Cracked Open
by Cookie Krisp
Summary: Keiko had many secrets.One of them was that she wasn’t who she pretended to be. Another was about a book she possessed,one that a certain pyromaniac was after. But secrets were hard to keep,and even a master of deceiving couldn't keep them hidden forever.
1. The Town With A Pie Bakery

**Author/aspiring alien's note**:

Hello.

I am an alien that has invaded Earth.

I live on Pluto and have come to have revenge for demoting my home to a Dwarf Planet.

...

Fine. I'm not. I was lying. You got me.

But I will be an alien that lives on Pluto one day. You can't stop me.

But right now, I am the author of this story who lives on the boring place called Earth.

Isn't that boring?

See, that's why I tried making it interesting by saying I was an alien.

Anyways... this is my first fanfiction ever and it is on Shaman King (duh) so please do not get really, really, mad when you find an error. When I say that I mean you can tell me but don't tell me I am the worst author on Earth because one day I will move to Pluto and then I can say I am the best author on Pluto. Hahaha

Do not be mad that I have a boring disclaimer.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. He is a man, I am a girl so obviously, I am not him. I am a random fan who wrote fanfiction. Again, Shaman King, its plot, the characters, the setting ,the Shaman king world, the spike on Ren's head, Yoh's orange headphones, and a bunch of other things belong to Hiroyuki Takei. Not me.

Rated T

Do not copy my work even though I have no idea who would want to copy my writing.

**P.S- I CHANGED THE TITLE OF THE STORY. IT USED TO BE CALLED "A RANDOM GIRL IN THE SHAMAN WORLD" FOR MY OLDER READERS WHO KNOW IT AS THAT. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.**

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**Chapter 1:**

I pulled my jacket over my shoulders and stepped outside. The fabric was loose, but it was enough to protect me from the cold wind. I swear, the weather was out to get me.

Today, the sun was high in the sky but it was cold anyway. The summer had ended weeks ago and fall was arriving. The cold seeped through my jacket and I frowned. Remind me to sue whoever manufactured the jacket—it wasn't warm enough.

I stared at the house in front of me. It was mine. The yellow paint was peeling off in big strips, revealing the gray, cement wall underneath it, and the shingles were falling off the roof.

I didn't know why I was staring at my house, but I assumed it was because there was nothing better to stare at. Besides, a house couldn't tell me that it was rude. Or maybe it was just that I didn't feel like walking to town just to get groceries, and staring at my house seemed like the best excuse I could think of.

For some strange reason that I have yet to figure out, I lived in the middle of a desert. The nearest town took 3 hours to reach on foot, and in order to get groceries I had to travel that distance. What I didn't understand was why the town hadn't moved closer to me yet.

What? I'm the one who should've moved closer to the town? No you have it wrong. In my mind the world revolves around me and I am not afraid to admit it. Why? Because no matter how hard you try to deny it, in your brain the world revolves around you, because you are the star of your life.

After staring at the house for a grand total of 12 minutes and 57 seconds, I realized that no matter how long I stood here, I wouldn't get my groceries. That is, unless little red riding hood passed by me. If little red riding hood passed by me, I would steal her basket of food before the big bad wolf could get it. Then I wouldn't have to get groceries until tomorrow.

But after waiting 5 more minutes, I concluded that the big bad wolf had already eaten her up, thus making standing here pointless.

Next time I see a wolf, I will make sure it tells the big bad wolf not to steal my food ever again. That should show him to mess with _me._

Since little red riding hood wasn't going to be arriving (and if the ginger bread man came flying down the street I wouldn't be able to catch him), I decided to start walking to the town-that-has-a-name-it's-just-I-don't-know-it.

I turned away from the house I had been staring at for the past 15 minutes, and trudged in the direction of the town. Okay, what I assumed was the direction of the town.

Hey, what else am I supposed to do when there are no trails in the desert, and I have no compass?

* * *

Surprisingly, I reached the town-that-shall-now-be-dubbed-pink-elephant-land-because-I-said-so around lunch time. I made good time. Usually, I get distracted by the amount of sand, stop to count it, eventually give up, and get here around four in the evening.

I think that Pink Elephant land finally realized that the world revolves around me, and decided to move the town a little bit closer.

You know what? I think I should tell you a bit more about myself, because it is much more interesting than listening to the tales of how I walked down Pink Elephant Land Street.

Well, the first thing you should know about me, is that I like bananas. No, I do not like bananas because of their taste. I like them because monkeys like them, and you can pretend they are nice, edible phones. Also, they have a unique shape, and their yellowness can be used to blind people.

The second thing you should know about me, is that I hate pink. Now why is this so important?

Well, I have bright pink hair and am forced to look at it every day. Oh, the horrors of having the color you despise more than anything in the world attached to your head. So, in order to share my misfortune with others, I grew it so long it passed my behind, just so other people who hate pink will have to look at it when I pass by. (If you were wondering why I named the town Pink Elephant land when I hate pink, it is because I hold a grudge against the town. It makes me walk 3 hours.)

The third thing you should know about me is that I am a shaman. Yep, a sha-**man.** But I am a girl and have decided to be a shawoman, because shaman can imply that I am a guy, which I am most certainly not.

Oh, and I also went to Tokyo a week ago to enter the shaman tournament. And guess what?

I won the three matches and now I have to find Patch village. I say that they are very stupid. Why did they have us gather in Tokyo, if we were going to have to find Patch village, which is in America? Why can't they find a more original way to determine the Shaman king –like who can find the last brownie made by famous chef xxx first? And finally, why is it that they just had to make it Sha**man** **king** instead of sha**woman queen**? It's unfair, I tell you. They are sexist.

Anyway, if you were wondering why I was living in a house in the desert and running groceries when I am supposed to be looking for Patch village, it is because I have no clue where Patch village is. I sort of expect it to appear out of nowhere like all good ninjas do.

Now that you know everything that you need to know about me right now, I shall enter a random grocery store.

Yeah, if only it was as easy as I made it sound.

After spending 10 minutes wasting good time and effort attempting to push the door open, I made the amazing observation that it was a sliding door. And as I was reaching my hand out to slide the door open, my feet tripped me.

No, I didn't trip over my own feet, my feet tripped me. I think they have a will of their own, always tripping me and getting in my way. I will have to lecture them about it later.

My weight fell on the sliding door, and as a result it came crashing down with me. The impact caused the glass to shatter and my head to hurt as I hit it on the ground. The glass on the floor gave me little scratches, but nothing else. Hey, the door shattered under my weight. Does that mean it was calling me fat?

People started to crowd around me, asking if I was okay, and what happened, and a bunch of other questions I shall not mention, because they made me confused. Basically, they all sounded like a big pack monkeys going all ooh-ooh- ah-ah on me. You see, I did not like big crowds of people, but I do like big crowds of monkeys. Apparently, my brain did not like them so they were now registered as a big mob of monkeys. Thank you, brain.

I stood up, preparing to complain to the store's owner about how they should get a nicer door. You know, one that doesn't trick you. That's not funny, unless it is April fool's day. Which it is not, so the door has no excuse.

As I started walking away from the door(because I am a mature lady, and walking away from a fight with a very mean door seemed like the mature thing to do), something caught my eye.

My steps came to an abrupt halt and my breathing stopped. It seemed as almost as though time had stopped as well. I felt my jaw slacken as I could not tear my attention away from the sight before me.

Pie.

My eyes widened as I stared into the big, soft, delicious pastry. I felt I could get lost in the supreme fluffly-ness and never come back. Irresistible.

And then I ran. Far, far away from my sweetheart I ran. Tears streaming down my face as I struggled to wipe them away with an arm.

Why, you ask? I comprehended that the pie on the poster would never be mine. And that thought saddened me so much, I decided to mourn by taking a cheerful walk in the park. Why I chose the park I will never know, but at the time it just seemed like a good idea.

If anyone dared to disturb my mourning they would get sweet-talked into buying me a different pie. If I couldn't have that one, so I would have to settle for another. Wow, I am so smart, I impress myself.

While in the middle of my mourning/ mission to get someone to buy me a pie, I realized that since I maturely walked away from the evil, scheming sliding door, I did not have the opportunity to tell the manager about his bad, bad doors. See, being mature did have its setbacks. But then I was happy when I realized I ran away, so the manager couldn't make me sweep up the mess.

* * *

After beating up a couple of thugs that did not have enough money to buy me a pie and dared to interrupt me so they could flirt, I decided to find a map.

Now that I had accomplished absolutely nothing that I came here for (I forgot why I came here. anyway), and miraculously my scratches had healed on their own (Stupid door trying to hurt me), I might as well go look for the map of this place. Maybe it will have directions on how to go to a grocery store without tricky doors.

So, I arrived at the map thingy, but there was one big, big problem. Yes, I mean very big. There was a group of people standing in front of it.

Why was that a big problem, you say? Well, I think they are purposely blocking my view of the map, so that I won't be able to get anything done. That is a form of bullying and bullying cannot go unpunished (when I say that I mean, when people bully me. I could care less when bullies bully other people).

So, instead of asking them to move or pushing them out of my way, I decided to sneak up behind the shortest one and push their head down. I would have normally gone for the taller one, but no he just had to have blue, spiky hair.

What does hair have to do with that? Obviously, because I worship blue hair. Also, spiky hair could puncture my hand, which would not make me a happy camper. You know, I never liked camping anyway, so I don't know why anyone would want to use that phrase. Though I must admit, if someone brought me pie when I was camping, that would make a happy camper…

I almost carried out my plan of PTSOHD, or Push The Smallest One's Head Down, when I found yet another problem. The shortest one's hair was a big spike sticking out of his head.

That is so confusing. How does his hair stay like that? Why is it pointy? Who in the world gave him that haircut? (I want to know-- maybe they can give me a unicorn horn hairstyle)

I had no desire to mess with someone who has their hair as a potential weapon. So, I just walked around them so I could stand in their way.

Yep, so I stood directly in their line of vision and looked at the map. Okay, it was a map. I give pink elephant land credit for that. But it was just a big blob of ugly brown with nothing labeled on it. How was that supposed to be helpful?

Angered by the sign, I quickly discarded my idea to stand in front of the bullies, so they have to look at my ultra pink hair. Instead, I turned around to ask the pointy-haired guy about his hair.

"Hey, do you use your hair like a rhino uses his horn?" I asked him, turning around so he couldn't ignore me. I was already plotting how I could get revenge on the map. This requires very careful planning.

The boy looked taken aback. I think that was his secret weapon, and I just revealed it. Wow, I am so smart.

"No," he said, quickly composing himself.

I frowned. No? That stunk. Boo you. That meant that I would have to find another way to get revenge on the sign.

"Then can you kill this sign?" I asked.

Even if he wouldn't use his hair as a weapon, maybe he could kill it a different way. I guessed he could glare at it until it got really scared and committed suicide, but it really didn't matter as long as it died somehow. Besides, knowing that if he got caught killing a sign, he would have to clean it up instead of me, made me feel really happy inside.

I think I startled him, his brown-haired friend, his spiky, blue-haired friend, and the big blob in the corner of my vision that strangely resembled Elvis Presley, because they were all staring at me strangely.

Hey, don't stare at me like I'm strange. What is really strange is the Elvis Presley blob. So yeah, stare at that.

Or, it might have been the fact that they all despise pink and have been traumatized by my pink hair. Yay fellow pink haters, we should stick together.

"No," he finally answered. His tone held a message that probably was meant to be interpreted as I-am-ending-this-conversation-with-the-crazy-pink-person, even though I had no clue how a tone of voice could mean so much. I guessed he was talented like that.

Somehow, the brunette with headphones looked very familiar, but he was in the corner of my vision where it is blurry, and that is beside the point. (Because the point is on top of Purple Spiky's head)

But, since killing the sign was far more important than anything else right now, I decided to kill it myself. When people noticed it was broken I would tell them it was the pointy-headed guy's fault. Which, by the way, is true because if he had just agreed to kill the sign when I had asked, I wouldn't have killed it. He would have.

So, I turned back to the sign and threw a banana that I just so happened to have in my pocket.

I kind of expected a monkey to come out of nowhere and grab the banana before it could kill the sign, but instead, the banana made a big hole in the center of the map before the monkey could come out. I had no idea how that was possible, because last time I checked, the map encased by glass was harder than a squishy banana, but I did not question it. Either way, I got my revenge. I guessed I was a talented banana thrower. I swear that should be a sport.

"What the…" Blue spiky haired guy started, like it was a big thing to be able to make a hole in a sign with a banana. Maybe it was. In that case, I should celebrate.

"Wow! I am so talented!" I yelled suddenly, resulting in more weird stares. Alright peoples, is it I-stare-at-Keiko-day?

Purple Spike (yes, purple spiky guy was dubbed as Purple Spike because I don't know his name, and I said so) grunted.

"Just ignore her." He said meanly. Yes I said meanly because it is mean to ignore me. Besides, doesn't he know that if you ignore me, I will annoy you more?

I huffed and crossed my arms against my chest, like it would actually make him stop ignoring me. Who knew, maybe it would.

He turned back to Blue Spike, Orange Headphones, and Blurry Blob in the Corner of My Vision That May or May Not Be Elvis Presley's Ancestor (Yeah, they all got names from me—they should be proud).

"Let's go find some information on Patch Village," he calmly commanded. Patch Village? Isn't that, like, where I'm supposed to be going instead of buying groceries?

Oh yeah, it is. Then these weird people must be shamans too. Wow I am so smart, I figured all that out from one sentence. If I was actually enrolled in a school, I would so, totally ace the language arts class.

"Then let's split up and ask people," Orange Headphones suggested. Like I said, he was very familiar. I felt like I was forgetting something very important. My memory was being annoying. I really should punish it.

Either they didn't realize that I was a shaman, and I was listening to their conversation, or they had temporarily forgotten my existence, because they totally just revealed their plan of information-gathering.

I think it is more like they thought I was a crazy person, though. Fine, be that way. I'll pretend to be a normal person, yeah. Because unlike you people, I was sneaky and did not wear my oracle bell in plain sight.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that I was being sneaky, but still. It was uncomfortable, so I decided to leave it in my pocket that somehow fits anything into it, and it just so happened to stay in there. It was a miracle I hadn't lost it yet.

Anyways, while I was pondering what they thought I was, they apparently split up to ask random people, like Orange Headphones had said.

Well, now that they were gone I had nothing to do. I guess that was not entirely true, because I should have been getting groceries, but then again I should have been looking for Patch village before that, anyway. So, like a normal person that always stays on track, I smirked and started laughing insanely at nothing in particular.

Now normal civilians of pink elephant land were staring at me. Is it so weird to find a teenage girl standing next to a broken sign, laughing insanely? Nevermind, don't answer that.

I randomly decided right then and there that I was going to eat some donuts. The reasons why are that I can, and because I was hungry after all that insane laughing I did. Maybe that's why the villains are never fat, old wrinkly dudes.

So, I went into this nice, little shop and ordered a big box of donuts. Why was it so nice? Because I made sure that it contained no glass sliding doors before entering.

I left the shop holding my donuts in one arm and reaching into the box to fish out another donut with the other. I was strolling down a random street that strangely didn't have a lot of people on it, when I spotted Blue Spike.

He was asking some random guy if he knew anything about Patch village. Wow, he is stupid. Did he really think random people would know about it? Apparently so. Well, I guess they could know something since I, the crazy girl, did.

For some weird reason, even though we were in America, the man knew Japanese, and so did everyone else Blue Spike asked. How do I know that? I stalked him--oops I meant followed him all over the place while eating my donuts up.

Believe it or not, that was rather entertaining. I knew I should have become a stalker instead of a shaman. At least stalkers aren't sexist pigs obsessed with male titles.

Oh look! It's Purple Spike flirting with a big group of girls' way older than him!

Oh wait my bad. He was asking them for information. Well, apparently they didn't have any information, but they did have kisses for him. Pay back for not killing the sign for me.

I wasn't going to help him, because he didn't help me. He best have good luck getting out of that one.

Ooh, he's blushing. He so loves the attention. If I ever got the chance I would make sure to tease him about it.

I snickered as I watched one of the girls lean down and kiss him on the cheek, leaving a lipstick mark. With or without me there, he was definitely going to get teased for that.

Getting bored after watching his misfortune for about 5 minutes, I glanced around for Blue Spike. He was nowhere in sight. That means I could either:

1: Go back to my house

2: Go buy groceries

3: Go find Patch village

4: Get lost looking for Blue Spike

5: Or bake pie.

I would choose bake pie, but since I never went grocery shopping, and I didn't have an oven, that would be impossible. So, I chose choice 6, help Purple Spike, because maybe he would buy me some pie if I helped him.

Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

"Oh? Feeling shy? So cute!!!" all the girls squealed in unison. That wasn't fair. How come they could do stuff in unison, and I couldn't?

Oh well, it seemed like a good time to interfere.

So, like the sneaky person I was, I snuck up behind the crowd of girls, while they were gushing about Purple Spike being cute, or something else. Personally, I think a rock could be more attractive than him, but maybe my opinions were a bit off. Other than that, I wasn't really paying attention, because I was too busy planning my plan out.

I took a deeeep breath and yelled, "Oh my gosh! A flying teriyaki chicken!" while putting emphasis in pointing my finger in some random direction.

All the girls' heads snapped up to look for something that was not there. Well, it might actually have been there and I was just physic but I didn't think that was right.

Quickly, I swerved around all the bodies and pulled Purple Spike out of the crowd. He looked shocked as I pulled him into some random shop.

I am so smart.

I laughed as I heard the girls wondering about where Purple Spike went. I must be a really good actor. Purple Spike quickly pulled himself together.

"Who are you, and what are you doing?"he asked angrily.

I snickered and rolled my eyes, gesturing towards the store's sign. It read 'Pie bakery' in big, bold letters. Apparently I was really lucky or something. I thank the pie gods.

He didn't seem to understand. I sighed and shook my head. The sheer ignorance of these people!

"I helped you, so you are going to buy me some pie," I said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be asking a stranger for pie. Which, by the way,_ is_ normal.

He glared at me. "I didn't need your help."

I simply pulled him up to the ordering desk or whatever you call the thing where you say what kind of pie you want.

"I didn't say you did. I only said that I helped you, and now you are going to buy me pie, because I said so," I pointed out.

It was true and he need not question it. All he needed to do it buy me my pie already.

* * *

After the use of my amazing persuasive skills that I didn't even know I had, he reluctantly bought me some pie. Then, we ate at the only blue table in the bakery, because the rest were pink and we all know I hate pink.

Well, more like I ate because he didn't really eat, and even if he wanted to eat the pie, I wouldn't have let him. I think he knew that already though.

Getting bored with the silence, I decided to make some small talk.

"Who are you?" I asked, after I had finished the whole pie. Why after I finished it all? Because seriously, who would stop eating just to talk? You eat, and then you talk. That is a moral all of us must know.

He grunted. "I should be asking you that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Then why aren't you?" Because seriously, if someone should be doing something, they should do it right?

He glared. Well, he was glaring to start with, but he glared even more. "I am Tao Ren, now tell me who you are."

That didn't really answer the why-aren't-you question but I didn't say so.

I grinned. "Kobayashi Keiko. Oh—and thanks for the pie."

I stood up and headed for the door. I suspected he was going to say something else, but I had already pushed the door open and walked off. I guess I will never know what he was going to say, but oh well.

Yeah, that is what I do. I leave before I get hungry again and have to ask him to buy me more pie. Normally, that wouldn't be so bad, but I really didn't think I could persuade him to buy me another pie.

* * *

Okay.

The end of this chapter.

I do not appreciate flames.

But please do review.

I like constructive criticism.

I am new on here so please do not hate me if I do something wrong.

Good bye.


	2. Random Houses that shake

Author's note:

Hello.

My second chapter ever.

Again, don't kill me if it has errors or if it bad.

I have yet to become an alien on Pluto but I believe me I will.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter (Remember, I said hope, I never said will).

Here comes the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. If you don't believe me go look at the Disclaimer in the chapter before this one. It has more details. Again, Shaman King is Hiroyuki Takei's. I only own my OC.

Rated T

I hope I did not scare you away with my boring Author's note. Author's notes are supposed to be boring so yeah, deal with it.

Read on.

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A Random Girl in the Shaman World

Chapter 2:

I licked my lips as I walked back into the park I had been strolling in before I found the map. The sweet taste of pie lingered on them.

It had only been about half an hour since I had eaten the pie yet I was hungry again. And since I didn't want to go back to the shop, mostly because I don't even know where it is, and I still didn't want to go grocery shopping, I decided to just go for another stroll in the park . So, I was in the middle of my nice stroll, when I passed a bench.

You might be wondering what is so special about a bench that I have to point out how I walked passed it. Well, it was kind of fancy and it smelled of cinnamon rolls but it was because there was a group of people I saw earlier today that I decided it was important.

Blue Spike, Familiar Orange Headphones, and the Blob now identified as an Elvis Presley double, were crowded around something.

Maybe they found some pie. Or a big, big cookie. Oh- or maybe they found the cookie monster himself. Yes, that must be it. I would make such a great detective. I know—if I fail in becoming a shaman(I still think it should be shawoman, because seriously—look at how everyone just calls people men. Mailman, policeman… What about woman?) I will be a detective.

I stopped walking to observe the scene. I mean really, when you see people crowded around something you want to know what it is too, right? Okay, maybe not everybody does that but all snoopy people do. Yes, that means I am confessing that I am a snoopy person and thus do not stay out of other people's business's.

They shifted positions and now I could see what they were staring at. They were staring at … uh… what was his name again?... Oh whatever. Pie man/Purple Spike. That stinks I thought they were actually staring at something worth staring at. But no they have to ruin my fun and stare at Purple Spike.

Then they got some kind of impish grin on their faces. Why can't I make impish grins? I am told all my grins look like stupid grins. I guess they do. But that is not a bad thing because that means I can trick my enemies into thinking that I am stupid. Somehow I don't think I need my stupid grins to do that though. Yeah, all I need to do is open my mouth to say something and they think I am stupid. But maybe being stupid is good. Yes, don't people always say ignorance is bliss? See, being dumb is really a blessing. Haha, take that smart people.

I think they are going to tease Purple Spike.

But there are some things I am wondering about right now.

Did the random people they asked know anything about Patch Village? (If so, then I will eavesdrop)

Why do I keep seeing a red van? (Do they possibly have stalkers other than me on their tail?)

Should I join in on the teasing or help him and demand another pie? (This is the most significant one at the moment.)

So, unable to decide whether to tease him or get pie, I finally decided to act like there was no way I was standing there for the past 2 minutes, interrupt them, pretend I don't know anything about Patch village except the fact that it is a village named after a patch, distract them, and then have Purple spike buy me another pie later.

"Are you looking for Patch village?" A girl with green hair and glasses asked suddenly. Oh no, she is going to distract them and make Purple spike get her a pie! That is my plan!! 911, pie thief!

I swear she came out of nowhere. Hey, I want to come out of nowhere too. Then I could suddenly appear in a bakery and steal all the pies. Oh wait—that would make me a pie thief too. I guess appearing out of nowhere is a pie thief thing then. Anyways, I think she has super teleportation powers. I must observe this strange person. I think we are connected by the string of strangeness. Being strange is something to be proud of.

But before I can analyze how she teleports I have to make sure she doesn't see me. Why? Because it totally ruins the atmosphere of spying on someone when they know you are there and I have to get back at her for trying to steal my pie. Besides, is it even spying if they know you are there? Wait—why would they know you are there yet not do anything about it?

Before anyone noticed me I used my superb hiding skills to hide under a bench and pretend I am a dog. Yes, a dog because dogs are all fluffy and I like fluffy so a dog I shall be. Also, I like sitting and dogs sit because their owners tell them to so yeah. I think Purple Spike knew I was there but I will pretend that he didn't just glare at me because that would ruin the purpose of hiding. That would also hurt my pride. Hey, I put lots of pride into my hiding skills, okay? Besides, I don't think he will tell anyone anyways, because to him, I am a just a random person he met with pink hair who threw a banana at a sign and wanted pie all in the same day.

So they had their little interaction with the girl. It went sort of like this. Hey, I know this person that knows about Patch village so yeah, I'll guide you and I am like, so totally not lying. Oh, really, we are so lucky! Yeah, and like, Purple Spike is so not suspicious. And this so does not remind me of something from a video game where you are completely hopeless and then some random person comes up to talk to you. Oh- and have you ever heard of not following strangers when they offer you candy, or in this case information? I guess not. That or they are like me and would either take the candy and make a run for it or demand to know if the stranger is the reason why all the candy in the local grocery store is sold out.

Well, I guess I cannot say anything because I sort of stalked them because I wanted to see if they were video game characters and knew how to get to Patch village which I highly doubt by the way.

* * *

So, they ended up at some weird mansion place in the middle of nowhere. I wonder why someone would build a mansion in some random place. If they were rich then wouldn't they want a telephone? I don't see any telephone wires anywhere. Come to think of it I never do. The world is a strange place. Especially since it has strange people like me in it.

They didn't knock when they went in which is very rude. You should always knock, I mean seriously, what if the lady was in the shower? How do I know it is a lady? I don't but isn't it always an old lady that tells you things in video games and stuff? I didn't know what to do so I looked around looking for someplace to get in where they wouldn't notice my entrance. Well, they probably wouldn't notice if I went through the front door when they weren't looking, but isn't it more fun to crawl through a window? Yeah, I thought so.

But instead of finding a way to get in without being noticed, I saw three people hiding behind a bush. Maybe they are not hiding but I think they are, even though hiding so badly that you will be seen kind of defeats the purpose of hiding. I must say they are not the best at hiding (of course not—I am!) but I think I will go hide too because they might be hiding from something really, really bad. In that case I should hide next to them, you know, so they can be used as a distraction in case I get seen by whoever they are hiding from. So I snuck up next to them.

"Hey, what are we hiding from and why behind a bush?" I whispered. Yeah seriously, why a bush? Why not a garbage can or a worm? I don't really know why you would hide behind a worm but hey, it's still something to hide behind. A bush is too cliché. That is, unless the bush is a berry bush and they are not only hiding but eating the berries as well. Yes, that would be very smart of them. But no, I have already observed the fact that this bush not a berry bush, but a thorn bush. I hope they get poked by the thorns.

All the girls jumped in unison. Is doing things in unison a girl thing that I am just not capable of doing? I want to jump in unison with people. Maybe when the people I am jumping in unison with and I land on the ground together, there will be a mini earthquake that somehow rids the world of pink and replaces it with heavenly pie. Ah yes, if only I could do the unison thing. The world would be a much better place.

"Who are you?" A girl with light brown hair hissed at me. Is she a snake?

"Hsssssssssssssssssssss." Uh, yeah that was me talking- I mean hissing. I was trying to see if I could speak snake language. Apparently not. Come to think of it, why don't they start teaching snake language instead of other languages in schools? Snake language would be so much more useful. You could ask them how they grow fangs. Then maybe people with be able to have poisonous fangs too. Then all the princesses in fairy tales could have fangs instead of the cliché beautiful red lips.

All three girls (Yeah they are girls—at least I think they are. One could be a cross dresser. You never know) looked at me strangely. I will not give them an explanation for my hissing but I will answer the Who-are-you question they asked me. Wait a second, why do they always ask who-are-you before they ask what-are-you-doing? I guess they would want to know who you are before what you are doing but really; I would want to know if they had any pie before I asked anything else.

"Someone. Now what are we hiding from?" Wow, I can be so witty.

"None of your beeswax." A little girl said. She is so little, how old is she anyways? 5? Shouldn't they be giving these kids a proper education? What happened to that?

"I don't have beeswax. And I don't think you do either. Oh wait, I guess you could. Do you have any?" I rambled quietly. I have to talk quietly or whatever they are hiding from might attack me. If it does then I will just have to use them as a shield and run away when the thing is eating them. How unfortunate for them. It is a good thing I never feel guilty because if I did then I would feel guilty after it ate them. But then I would be happy that the monster had a meal and would not be guilty anymore. Besides I could blame their deaths on the food chain right?

There was a short silence until the light brown haired one decided to get back to whatever they were doing before I appeared randomly. Ah, I guess I have acquired the skill of appearing randomly instead of appearing out of nowhere. But really I have always had the skill of appearing randomly I just didn't notice. I am special in my own random way.

"Anyways, it's just as we planned."

I looked at her funny. "What did you plan? Did you plan me coming to hide next to you? Did you plan to have a short conversation involving beeswax with me?" I said really fast. I think I have a newly acquired skill known as talking really fast in long sentences that may or may not irritate the person/people I am talking to.

They said nothing to me after that. What is with people and ignoring me today? That's mean.

Oh, I know. I will go spoil whatever they are planning. That'll show them. Plus, maybe I can steal some food from the mansions kitchen. What a brilliant plan. I am pure genius. Maybe I will be the next Einstein if I get hit by an apple. Wait, Einstein didn't really get hit by an apple but I will say he did. If an apple did hit me on my head then I would eat it.

* * *

I crawled toward a nearby window in the old mansion thing. I opened it and jumped through. Wow, I am so lucky that they forgot to lock the windows. That or they are physic and knew I would go through it before I even decided to even though I am not sure why they would let me in on purpose.

Anyways, I landed on the floor (No, I landed on the air!) and took in my surroundings. There was a couch, a door, and a rug. How interesting, not.

So, I strode over to the door and prayed really, really hard that it would lead to the kitchen. I opened it and peaked through… and guess what? It was a kitchen. Luck is on my side today. If luck is on my side today then what is on the other side? Is there even another side? Nah, everyone would be on my side.

I glanced at the room cautiously before tip-toeing to the cabinet. Why was I being so sneaky? I am practicing my acting skills and it fits the situation too. Ooh put the creepy music in the background. Yes, I am acting even though I am in the middle of doing something naughty, namely stealing things that are not mine. Somehow I don't think I will get visited by Santa this year. Well, I never do. But I like to pretend it is because Santa cannot find my house and I do not have a chimney anyways. I blame the people who built the house.

I opened the cabinet door and grabbed some bananas. How I knew the bananas would be in the cabinet of all places or if they even had bananas at all, I do not know, but do not question a woman's intuition. Besides, it makes me feel special when I believe that I have some kind of tracking device in my brain that always knows where to find bananas.

After stealing a lot of bananas which I stuffed in my pocket that holds anything I want it too, I heard some people talking on the other side of a door. I approached the door quietly (who knows it might actually be alive!) and noticed it had one of those hole things that you use to spy on who is ringing your doorbell. I don't know why they had one in the house but that doesn't matter because now I can spy on the people inside through the little hole.

I peered through the tiny hole and saw Purple Spike, Blue Spike, Orange Headphones, and Elvis Presley talking to a stuffed animal dressed up as a grandma. I have a strangely good view for someone looking through a very tiny hole but I will just assume I have very good eyesight. Anyways, it is kind of disturbing when you see someone other than yourself talking to an inanimate object. Yes, someone other than yourself because we all know that we do it when no one is looking. Well, at least I do. But it is kind of funny when you are watching someone else do it. They should include scenes like these in humor movies. Yes, that would be funny. That or my humor sense is off. Nah, its fine.

Oh look, the green haired lady that tried to steal my pie is making a peace sign at the window and a blonde haired lady is standing in a cabinet, talking to a wall. Do the inanimate objects in this mansion talk? Are they really alive? Can I have a conversation with one?

But if they talk are they still inanimate objects? Wouldn't that make them animate? Maybe I should try to carry out a conversation with the door in front of me. Oh wait- then they would hear me so that is not a good idea. Maybe inanimate objects speak their own language. Then I will have to learn the language of the inanimate. That could possibly be even more useful than snake language.

Hmm? Blue Spike is getting up. Oh look he is opening the cabinet doors with the crazy lady talking to the wall. Why is she crazy? Because she is alone in a cabinet talking to the cabinet wall. That sounds kind of funny. I think they are crazier than me. Wow I didn't even know that was possible.

The lady was surprised by the intruder in her lovely cabinet and everyone else was surprised to find a woman in a cabinet. Can't blame them, I would be too. Though I am wondering why the cabinet was so empty she could fit in it in the first place.

Then, Elvis Presley walked over to the teddy bear dressed as a grandma and picked it up. Then he showed it to everyone else. I suspect he was telling them it was a stuffed animal which is pretty obvious but I can't really be sure. I mean, I can't really hear what they say. So I just mouth read.

Sometime while I was watching Elvis point out the obvious, the blonde haired lady had gotten out of the cabinet. Pie guy/Purple Spike who's name I so did not forget stood up (I'm not sure why though, he is so short it doesn't really make a difference whether he sits or stands) and kindly shared his wisdom with them. Yes, them, because I can't hear it so he can't be sharing it with me.

Oh my gosh, green lady/pie thief flashed her infamous peace sign. And when she did, it made this very strange noise. How come that doesn't happen when I do it? (I tried it right after I saw her do it. It didn't work)

I must have missed something because now everyone is looking at Orange Headphones like he did something amazing. Maybe he did. Maybe he just explained the process of photosynthesis in extreme detail. Maybe he is some genius who just claimed the Earth was not round. I don't know. I never know. But it doesn't really bother me.

Speaking of what bothers me, the ground is shaking. The floor rumbled and the walls shook violently. The shaking shook my off balance and I squealed quietly, struggling to regain it. I tumbled to the floor and did a poor attempt to save my head by covering it with my hands. This would have worked—if only it was actually a natural disaster like a tornado. High-pitched shrieks erupted from the room next door and then I saw it. I screamed louder than I thought was possible. Hey, don't blame me. It's not every day that the house you are in starts shaking. A huge, gigantic mallet smashed the roof in and the building collapsed. A piece of ceiling collided with my skull as I fell towards the dirt ground. Yes, the ground is dirt what else would it be?

The impact when I hit the ground was strong, it hurt—I could feel a trickle of blood running down my cheek. My vision blurred and I wondered for a second if the fall had somehow affected my vision. But before I could find out who in their right mind would use a hammer to destroy a building and sue them, blackness flooded my mind and soon, I was lost in it.

* * *

Uh... If you don't already know, this is the end of chapter 2

So yeah, I worked hard on typing this up so please do review.

I don't like flames though I don't know anyone who does.

I do like constructive criticism.

End


	3. Rubble and a Bunch of Other Nonsense

Author's note:

Hi.

Yeah, yeah, fine don't read the author's note.

Even if you don't read it I will write it anyways.

I wish I were on Pluto.

One day I will wish upon a star and my wish will come true. Until then I will keep writing this story.

And for that I need a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Shaman king belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. For more details please see chapter 1's disclaimer. I repeat, I do not own Shaman king.

Also, do not copy my work.

* * *

A Random Girl in the Shaman World

Chapter 3:

After a while of lying there unconscious, blotches of light appeared in my vision. I forced my eyelids to open and then, I was awake. Well, I was already awake but just go along with it, okay?

Half of me expected to see an angel ready to take me to the afterlife. The other half expected to see a monkey waiting with a fresh banana. But I never expected to see what I was seeing at the moment.

A pile of rubble.

Not exactly a happy sight is it? Well, I guess it could be for a garbage man but I am not a garbage man let alone a man so it does not make me happy. For a moment I wondered if someone locked me in a garbage can (it's happened before) but then I wondered where the garbage can came from and why they would want to lock me in there anyways. As I contemplated what I could possibly be doing in a pile of rubble (and also a potential secret hideout) my memory of what happened slowly came back to me.

Yes, slowly. Slooowly. Tooo slow. So slow I was afraid I would forget what I had just remembered.

Okay, sooo the house I was in got smashed by a giant mallet and then I got hit by a piece of ceiling in the skull and then I fell to the ground and lost conscious like most people do when they are hit in the head. The End.

Yeah, that's the story. It is kind of plain. I guess I wasn't really locked inside a garbage can. That would have been so much more interesting than being buried under a pile of rubble. If I were in a garbage can then I could see if anyone threw out anything cool and if they didn't then I would wait until the garbage man opened the can to take out the garbage and then I would surprise the garbage man and while he was surprised I would run away. That would've been a much more interesting adventure than the-day-I-had-to-crawl-out-of-rubble.

There are several things I am wondering about right now. If you have noticed, I always list what I am wondering about. If you don't know why, it is obviously because if I don't then I will forget them and end up having to spend the rest of the day trying to remember. I will list them now so I won't have to do that.

1: Did the hit to my skull affect my brain? (If it did, then I must have already had a messed up brain because I am not feeling the difference)

2: Why do I feel no wounds on me? (I must have a pretty hard skull. I don't even have a headache!)

3: Who should I sue? (Well, of course the person who swung the mallet, but I meant who was the person.)

4: What happened to the other people? (I never got a second pie from Purple Spike *gasp*)

5: How do I get out of the rubble? (Even though it makes a great secret hideout and I do, in fact have food on me, I really need to use the toilet and I don't see one here)

So, I sat up and patted my head. No, I haven't gone crazy yet, (Well, I suspect I may have been born crazy but maybe I have gotten crazier) I'm just patting my head to ensure that my head is still intact with my body. I think it is. But you never know I could be wrong.

After checking to make sure I wasn't severely injured (I wasn't) I stuck a hand in my pocket and came out with a bamboo stick.

There are several common uses of bamboo.

Growing it, eating it, swinging it around like a sword, and using it as a lucky charm.

But, none of these things are what I use a bamboo stick for. Sure I would love to eat it even though it probably wouldn't taste that great but it has a different purpose to serve.

I'm a shaman. And the bamboo is my medium.

I stared at it for a moment. It brought back memories. Ah yes, flash back time.

"_What is that?" I asked, staring at a green thing growing in the middle of a random road I was randomly walking upon._

_As expected, since no one was near me, no one answered me. Well, I suppose the inanimate objects around me could have answered but no, they never do. Rude things._

_So, I answered myself._

"_I think it is a stick." I concluded after further investigation. But I couldn't be sure so I stupidly walked right into the middle of the road and looked at the thing close up._

_It was a bamboo stick growing on a road._

_Why is it growing in the middle of the road would have been the most obvious question but since I am not an obvious person I do not ask obvious questions. I ask random ones._

"_Does the stick like getting run over by cars?" I asked, even though I knew no one would ever answer me. Even if they did, it would be wrong because the question I just asked is one of those questions that are never meant to be answered. It is the unquestionable. Just like why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road. You don't answer it. You just assume oh-he-crossed-the-road-because-he-wanted-to. That or you make up an answer. _

_So, simply because I wanted an answer and I don't ask a question for no reason, I chose to make up an answer. And the answer I chose was no because if I were the bamboo then I would not like getting run over by a car._

_And because I chose no, the moment I heard a car coming down the street I tugged until the bamboo stick came out of the ground and ran until I was not in the path of the car._

_The car passed without even acknowledging my good deed of helping the bamboo stick. When it was out of sight I looked at the stick. It was not very long and would probably fit in a big pocket. And there just happened to be a big pocket in the pants I was wearing that day so I shrugged and put the stick in my pocket._

_And then I walked off into the nonexistent sunset. Oh—and let's take a look at what is in that pocket while we're at it._

_Um..._

_An old lollipop stick, candy wrappers, a pie advertisement, a glue stick, bananas, a monkey key chain, a hair tie, dirty tissues, pencils, pens, erasers, sharpies,… okay, let's stop there. You don't want to know what else is in there. Believe me, you don't._

I sighed in content. Memories, good old memories. My gaze dropped to the stick in my hand. My eyes trailed over each feature, comparing it to how I had seen it on that day when it was still growing on the road.

"Keru into stick." My mouth formed the words and they flowed out of my mouth in a quiet whisper. Yes. I did shorten bamboo stick into just stick. It still works for over-souling so sue me. Just so you know, that was not meant to be taken literally.

Muscles that I didn't even realize were tensed before, relaxed and my body took over a calm demeanor. My spirit, a fuzzy, gray koala, appeared next to me. Don't bother telling me Koala's don't eat bamboo because I never said they did. The reason why I am using a bamboo stick is because I found it. It has such an interesting history, doesn't it?

I lifted the bamboo stick in front of my face and waved in a few times. No, I did not do magic. That is for magicians and if you noticed I am not a magician. I didn't use the bamboo as a sword to cut the rubble in two because that is like impossible for me either. (I have never wielded a sword before.). What I did do was command Keru and his lovely followers a.k.a plants to do what I wanted.

There aren't any plants growing in the middle of a pile of rubble.

So, I used the closest plant's roots, extended them and then had them lift the rubble in way of the path that I crawled away in. Or rather, crawled out.

* * *

5 minutes later

The journey was harsh and cruel. Sweat dribbled down my arms and legs, and my body pleaded for me to rest.

Okay, maybe not that bad.

I pushed the last piece of rubble out of my way and light filled my eyes. Well, it didn't really fill my eyes, it sort of burned them… but I'm trying to be dramatic here so stop picking on me. I almost tried to embrace the light like in some books but then I wondered how you hug the light. Doesn't it go through you?

I deactivated my oversoul and stuffed the bamboo back in my pocket. Oh how I love my pocket. If I never find a boy to love I will probably marry my pocket. Yes, that is a good idea. That or I will marry a pie. But I would eat the pie and then I will be single again. So, yeah, I will marry my pocket.

Oh, I hear people talking. I turned my ears on (Yes, I have selective hearing.) but I still couldn't make out exactly what they were saying.

So, I continued my crawling and crawled around to the other side of the rubble. To my surprise, the rubble pile was very small. I think my brain is tricking me. I have a very tricky brain indeed.

* * *

As soon as I could see the people talking, I could finally hear what they were saying. (Are you sure that the I-can't-see-you-you-can't-see-me thing wasn't supposed to be You-can't-see-me-you-can't-hear-me?)

I looked at the 5 girls and I recognized three of them from behind the bush. Darn, I thought they had gotten eaten by the monster they were hiding from!

Then I looked at Purple Spike's group. And finally I looked at the spirits that were standing—I mean floating over their heads. Or flying or… whatever.

Okay… So I am guessing that the five people who I now also recognize as the people in the red van on the other side are shamans. For some reason I think that is the only guess I have ever made that actually has some reasoning behind it. That's okay; I just like to guess things. It's more fun than throwing pink things in the garbage can.

And then I wondered. Yes I wondered. How unusual of me (please note sarcasm). If the 5 van people were shamans, then they came from Tokyo. Yes? Yes. So, if they came from Tokyo then they had to fly across the ocean to come to America to find Patch village. And if they flew across the ocean then how did they bring their red van with them? I highly doubt they bought it when they came here. I also wonder if they have a driver's license and if they have passports and how they get their gas. But then I realized I could not see the red van anywhere near them so what if it got stolen? Where did they leave it? I guess these are the things not meant to be questioned. The world will never know. Well, maybe the world will, but I just won't.

The people's voices brought me back to reality. No, I wasn't in reality before. I was in my own little dream world with little unicorns and bananas that can talk. It's a shame I didn't get to bring any souvenirs back from my dream land but I got distracted by them calling out their names.

"Sally!" The red haired one called out. I think she is the one that has a great big mallet. But she scares me so I will not get mad at her for breaking the house. Why is she scary? She glares and looks scary and her name is the same as this one hairdresser I had when I was a kid. The hairdresser almost made me bald. Now I cut my own hair.

"Lilly!" The green pie thief lady said. Why do they get exclamation points at the end when they say their names? Is it really so exciting? I will probably always wonder if she was named after a Lilly pad because of her green hair but I guess that was her mommy's choice. Mommy not mother because mother sounds too mature and that is what old men say.

"Elly!" The light brown haired one said. Now I wonder if all their mothers got together and were physic so they knew that their daughters would one day flock together and thus decided to end all their names in -ly. If I were them I would have had all their names end in pie because I love pie but I guess that is just me.

"Milly!" A short dark brown haired one said. I wonder if she shops in the toddlers section … hmm. Personally I think she should be a Molly.

And last but not least… "Sharona!" A tall woman with very, very curly blonde hair said proudly. Why she gets described more detailed than the others is something I don't know but I do know that it is very strange when everyone except you has a name that ends in –ly.

I guess that is why she is last and stands out more.

But then I felt left out. All the girls except me got to yell out there names. That is unfair I want to too. So I crawled up behind Purple Spike because he is short like me and he bought me pie so I have concluded that he is okay to hide behind if someone gets mad at me for yelling my name. Also because everyone else is huddled in an uhhhh… huddle whispering about why Sharona does not have -ly at the end of her name so that leaves only Purple Spike.

"Keiko!" I yelled because everyone else did. Now I don't feel so neglected. Also, now everyone is staring at me, again.

What—is this a big staring contest? If it is then I will win because I declared it. So, I tried to stare back at all of them but it was very, very hard because I couldn't focus on one in particular.

So, I was glad when Purple Spike decided to intervene in it.

"What are you doing here?" He asked rudely. Rude because he forgot to yell out his name too and also because that is what Purple Spike does. He is rude—if he was not then the world would end and pigs would fly. Though it would be kind of cool to see pigs fly. I want to fly too!

But just because he is rude does not mean I can be rude too so I had to answer his question.

"I was yelling out my name because everyone else was but now I am wondering about if pigs will fly why can't I. If I could fly then I would fly over the rainbow and end up in wonderland!" I said kind of forgetting what I was talking about at the end. I have memory loss so stop picking on me. Well, the doctor said I don't but I just know he is wrong. Besides it gives me an excuse to forget important things.

Purple Spike shook his head and grunted. I want to learn how to grunt! Oh wait, I think that is a strictly male only thing just like how squealing is a girls only thing. Yes, that must be why I can't do it.

Then he turned back to the 5 stalker van people. Stalkers because I suspect they are stalking Purple Spike and van people simply because they live in a van that I think can fly across the ocean and has unlimited gas. I want a van like that!

"You bastards are the ones who destroyed my airplane?" He accused. That is mean he should really stop accusing people. Well, it was probably true but how does he know that?

Now is a good time to interrupt people because the atmosphere is getting too tense for me. People can die from that you know. Well, at least I can.

"How do you know that they are the ones who destroyed your airplane? Are you physic? You had an airplane? Wait-- was it a paper airplane or a real airplane? If it was a real airplane what happened to the pilot?" I asked because I like to ask questions and confuse people. Confusing people is fun, they look at you funny and then you get to laugh when they can't answer all your questions because you asked too many for them to remember.

He growled and looked back at me. I secretly think he was a lion in his past life. Also, why do people growl? I just don't understand. I need to try that one day. Then maybe I will understand. I also need to remember his name. Yes, I do.

"Just shut up would you?" He asked—well not really asked because it was sort of a command but since I want to remain in a good mood I will pretend that he asked politely and I smiled and said Okay.

Now let's bring the attention back to Sharona and Co. Yes, any group bigger than 2 people are referred to as Co. because it is annoying to have to say all those names.

"What're you gonna do if we did?" She asked even though that really does not answer his question or mine. Speaking of which, why does no one bother to answer my questions anymore? Oh I know, I am too smart for them and ask too many smart questions so they resort to ignoring me. Okay, well maybe that's not why but that is what I want to believe so I will. You can't stop a crazy person, Muhahahaha.

Okay, back to Purple Spike. "You guys will pay." Actually, if you were paying attention they are all girls so you should not be calling them guys. "Even though I have 32 planes left, I will not forgive you." How nice, you have 32 planes left and exactly why do I need to know that right now? Does he count his planes everyday or something? If you take out the plane part of his sentence why does it sound like it would be used in a romance movie?

"Humph. There's no evil or good. You just have to get to Patch village in 3 months for the second preliminary." Sharona informed me. Well, I don't think she knows she was informing me or that I am a shaman but I am telling the story so she doesn't get a say in what I write.

Thank you Sharona for informing me on everything I forgot about the shaman tournament. Yes, I kind of forgot everything except I had to go to Patch village. I could have looked at my oracle bell to remember but as I said, it is in my pocket and I am being sneaky so that no one else knows I am a shaman.

"There's no rule saying that you can't destroy your rivals before then." She went on. Maybe there isn't but I do not know anyways so she is kind of boring me. I wonder if people think I am quiet. I mean, I say a lot of things in my head but I only say a very, very small portion of it out loud. I guess I am just used to always thinking in my head because a lot of times I have no one to talk to. Yes, that is it.

"HOWEVER!" A loud booming voice yelled from somewhere.

I screamed like a girl does partly because I am a girl but mostly because I have to go to the bathroom really, really bad and he surprised me, almost making me pee in my pants. (Should I go back to diapers?!) I also kindly refrained from jumping on Purple Spike's back. Yes, kindly, because if I did jump on him I might be too heavy and then he would fall in the dirt which would make me laugh really hard. Also, if you were wondering why I chose Purple Spike's back to almost jump on it is because he is conveniently placed right in front of me because I chose to stand behind him and also because I know him the most.

I traced the voice and looked up at a tree branch. (All those mazes I did when I was bored must have made me smarter!)

Well, I sort of glared at the tree branch but the tree branch was relieved of my glare because someone was standing on it. Obviously, it was the guy who had to yell "However" for no apparent reason.

Everyone looked at him and then I wondered if it was the new fad to yell random things and speak in unison. I understand the yell random things one but unison? No.

"Silva!" They all screamed/yelled in unison. It really is the new fad! Unfair, everyone does that.

Well, since everyone yelled Silva except me so I decided that I should yell Silva too.

"Silva!" I yelled a bit too late. Then they all turn to me like they completely forgot my existence (How dare they!).

And then I look at the man and realized why they yelled Silva in the first place. Maybe I should have looked to see why they were yelling that before I yelled it too, but I didn't so it's too late. I remembered that that guy was the guy who I had to hit in order to enter the shaman tournament. It was easy, really. All I did was oversoul and since we were conveniently standing in a field with nicely mowed grass even though I'm pretty sure no one owned it, all I had to do was touch him with the grass he was standing on before he floated into the sky. (Remember: I control the plant world. Hahahaha!) Silva is proof humans will one day fly. I also suspect he reluctantly allowed me into the tournament but I got in anyways so who cares?

"Hello, I was talking." Silva said. Yeah I think we all know that. I think he is jealous of all the attention I receive. I also think he hid a microphone somewhere because his voice echoes, echoes, echoes.

"Sorry, keep talking." I yelled back at him even though it was not necessary. I wanted to know if I would echo too. I didn't. Aw, I want to echo too.

"If you were defeated in a shaman fight when 1 of the 10 priests were around, then you'll be disqualified, so keep that in mind." He informed. I looked at him funny partly because I wonder if that uniform he is wearing is uncomfortable and partly because to the other people around here I am just a normal person—not a shaman.

"Wait—what if there were 2 priests around? Would it still count?" I questioned even though I was supposed to be pretending I do not know anything about shamans. Sorry, I couldn't help it. He just said if 1 of 10 priests so that means if 2 of 10 were there then it wouldn't count, would it?

Silva completely ignored me and continued to stare at something. I don't know what because he is wearing a mask. Don't ask how I know he is staring because I don't know either. I still think he is mad because I outsmarted him in the shaman tournament.

"No way. I didn't hear about that." Sharona said, ignoring my outburst too. Everyone ignores me, that makes me so sad. And actually, she did hear about the priest rule. Like 2 seconds ago when Silva said it.

"That can't be. Read the messages from the oracle bell carefully. It's at the end. Scroll with the B button." Silva instructed calmly. Carefully? Is the oracle bell going to explode or something? Why do buttons always have to be labeled as a letter like B?

Everyone except me pulled out their oracle bells and looked at them in unison. Again with the unison thing. Why am I never included in these kind of things? Maybe because I didn't bother to take mine out of my pocket but that is beside the point. I will just look at Purple Spike's because he is next to me. Man, I need to know his name.

So, I looked over at his oracle bell and read it. Silva was right so good for him. But that still didn't answer my question about if 2 priests were there…..

"Ahh! You're right!" they all yelled in unison AGAIN. In my will I will write that all my inheritance goes to someone who does not participate in unison.

"Hey did you know that it had a structure in this device? Oh and who the hell are you?" Blue Spike asked the first question for Purple Spike and the second for me.

"Me?" I said pointing at myself innocently even though there was no one else he could be asking. Well, he could have been asking the tree behind me. I had to make sure.

He nodded.

"I am Keiko, do you have pie? And what was your name again?" I asked, looking at Purple Spike at the end of the sentence.

Blue Spike looked kind of surprised that I didn't ask who he was but as I was saying, I always ask if anyone has pie before I ask who they are. My pie comes first. It is a basic need.

"I'm Horohoro. And that's Ren." Blue Spike, now known as Horohoro, said ignoring my pie question and Ren just glared at me.

"Oh, now I remember!" I said kind of ignoring Horohoro's introduction of himself partly because he ignoring my pie question and partly because I grinned at Ren even though he is still glaring. I deal with glares by doing my stupid smile thing until my stupidity overcomes the evilness of glares and the glares eventually go away. That or the person who is glaring's muscles get tired from all the glaring so they have to stop. Either way it is very efficient.

I guess everything about me is efficient. Even my pockets. They save me from the terror of buying a purse. My pocket also saves me space I need for my personal bubble. Yes, I have a bubble. It surrounds me and anyone who gets too close to it without my permission will be punched far, far away. Far away to land that no one has discovered yet… Maybe I will be doing them a favor when I do that. They could become the next Christopher Columbus! Yes, everyone should thank me. I know I am a wonderful person.

* * *

And that concludes chapter 3.

Please, please, please review.

I need the motivation.

No flames, but constructive critisism is welcome.

Review, review, review!

If you review then I will permit you to go to the bakery and have a cookie.

Anyways, Bye!


	4. Old Acquaintance

**Author's note:**

Hi.

Yeah, I know that no one really likes reading the author's note, but I write one anyway. It makes my chapters look longer.

Anyway, I haven't managed to sot an UFO's sporting a Pluto logo on the side.

Such a shame, I know.

I shall now do the disclaimer.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. Hirkoyuki Takei is not my name. Only my OC, Keiko, is mine.

* * *

Okay, so, some stuff happened…Time went ticking past … I really had to go the bathroom…

Fine, I admit I wasn't paying attention. Hey, I really did have to go to the bathroom though.

I heard a couple of shouts and mumbled conversations.

Upon hearing this, I turned on my brain, so I could figure out what was going on.

Yes, apparently my brain was turned off before. Maybe _that's_ why I couldn't do the unison thing before.

While I was pondering this, my brain decided to turn off _again_. So, I had to restart it.

And that brings us to where we are now.

There was a fight of some sort, where people fought (no… rocks fought! Actually, maybe they did. I know I saw some rocks flying…) and decided they should activate their oversouls.

There were also some intense scenes, where it was like oh-no-the-lily-5-are-going-to-lose. During those, I was so bored my brain automatically shut down.

Oh look! The four –ly's and one –na, ( Lily, Milly, Sally, Elly and Sharona) are running away fast! Like, really, really, fast. They are so fast that they leave a trail of dust behind.

For some reason, I felt like I had to breathe in that dust.

So, I did.

But, apparently that wasn't the wisest thing to do, because soon after I was sent into a wild hacking fit. It's a shame--I didn't hack up any of my guts.

I wish I could run that fast. Then, that could be one of my secret techniques. I could kick up some dust and make the enemy inhale it. Then, they would cough real hard. I would claim they were choking, and do the Heimlich maneuver.

And since I am most certainly not trained in that area, I would end up severely injuring them. Thus making them unable to move.

Hey, wait, what if that's what the Lily five were planning to do to me?

…

Nah… I think they were just running away. Or, they saw a pie bakery and decided they really needed some pie.

Yeah, that must be it.

Somehow, they reminded me of a stampede of rabid bulls.

Hold on, if they can run that fast why do they need that van?

Oh silly me. Of course, it is because the van is red, and therefore awesome.

Meanwhile, everyone seems to have forgotten my existence.

I believe it is time for me to make my leave.

My gaze flitted across the shamans in the clearing. They were all either, talking to each other, just standing there, or doing who knows what.

None of them seemed to be looking at me, or even in my direction.

Ah- ha, perfect for my escape.

Wait a second…Whatever happened to Silva?

I tilted my head up, swished my bangs to the side, and looked up towards the branch I thought he was standing on.

It was empty.

Uh oh, I think the tree ate him.

Oh, I must do my prayers.

I am sorry for your loss, Silva, but this is the truth of the food chain. Of course I said this all in my head, I mean, why would I go up to the man-eating tree, and talk to the trunk, while putting my own life on the line? Well, I wouldn't. Please accept your death as a contribution to photosynthesis.

"What are you doing here?" A voice said.

I do not know if that is my mind talking to me or someone else. It kinda sounds like Ren's voice but I shall ignore that and pretend it is the voice inside my head. I am awesome like that.

"Well, what are you doing here? I mean, why are you in my head?" I asked, crossing my arms.

The voice snorted, the noise reminding me of a cute little pig. Pigs are cute; they get to roll around in mud all day. I do not know when voices suddenly picked up the ability to speak on their own and act like pigs. But, I do not question that because if I don't, then pigs will fly one day.

I must believe. After all, anything is possible if you believe right?

"What the hell are you talking about, you imbecile?" The voice said.

Wow, words really do have power! I can, like, really feel someone's glare on the back of my head. Oh, and if you are wondering why the voice in my head is calling me an imbecile, I am wondering that too.

Okay, so maybe the voice is right and I am an imbecile. But no, I say I am right and since there is only one right he must be wrong. It's called logic you idiots.

"Well, I am talking about you, of course." I said.

This is getting boring. Can we just get to the point already? I need to go to the bathroom. My god, you people really should stop denying me of my needs.

"I am not in your head, idiot. My name is Tao Ren and I am standing right behind you."

Oh yeah…That dude really was standing there, wasn't he. Wait, then he is not in my head? How dare he trick me?

"That's so mean!" I whined, pouting like a duck.

Yes, ducks do pout. I was walking, and there was, like, a duck in the middle of the road. It was just sitting there and I just happened to be eating bread. The duck pouted at me until I gave it some. For some reason, it bit my hand when I tried chucking crumbs at it. I decided ducks were indeed very dangerous. But, all that is beside the point.

Anyway, I turned so I could look at Ren. Ouch, I think I just cracked my neck. I really have to be more careful.

Ren was, well, glaring at me. Yeah, I know, big surprise. I mean, it's not like he does that _every time he looks at me._

Ren's eyebrow twitched.

…Is it having a muscle spasm?

Ren snarled. I do not know if it was at his eyebrow, for going spastic, or me, for being so freakin' awesome.

"Let me repeat. What are you doing here?" He said in a very mean tone.

He did ask me that didn't he. I guess I never answered.

But really, that is a really obvious question. I would have thought he wouldn't need an answer. I guess that just goes to show, that that poster I saw that said 'Intelligent people ask questions', was right. Smart people ask really stupid questions, and I guess dumb people just don't ask at all.

I raised an eyebrow. I felt my ear twitch slightly as well. It's really weird, because every time I move my eyebrow I move my ear too.

"Um… Isn't it kind of obvious? I'm sitting… and eavesdropping… and breathing… and talking to you… and uh, a bunch of other things…" I trailed off.

I didn't know what else to say. The list can go on forever, what does he want to know?

Well, I guess he could be making an attempt at suicide. He may be trying to make me talk him to death.

That is actually a good idea. I bet I could kill someone like that. I will have to try it one day.

But, right now, I don't want to really want to talk. I just want to go to the bathroom and relieve myself to body fluids.

Is there something wrong with that?

You know what, there just might be. Because, like, every time I express my needs of a bathroom break, someone or something distracts me.

Apparently, now that I am thinking about wonderful white toilets, other people feel the need to remember me.

And I was just going to make my escape too…

I am sorry body, but you will just have to wait to do your needs.

"You look kind of familiar…" Orange Headphones commented, grinning, but still managing to look somewhat puzzled.

I just realized something.

He is cute.

Just like my pig at home. Okay, so _maybe_ he is a stuffed animal. So what? He's still cute.

Headphones dude is especially cute when he grins. Yeah, he grins just like my pig does. That is awesome.

I smiled, like the sun. Not the sun that fries people, but the sun I draw on little scraps of paper when bored. You know, the yellow circle with a smiley face on it. Maybe some sunglasses, too. Yeah, that one, I know you've seen it before.

"So do you. What is your name?"

"Asakura Yoh."

I gasped. Loud. Like, really loud and big.

Apparently, gasping is not what I do best. I found that out the hard way when I almost choked on the air. I will not do that again.

"I remember you!" I yelled. Again, quite loudly.

Yelling is not what I do best either. It makes me really thirsty later on.

I just realized that there is a long line of things I am bad at. I guess that is okay though. My awesomeness makes up for it.

"I used to be an apprentice, or something, of yours." I said, remembering.

"Oh yeah… Now I remember you. I used to hide from Anna in your room. But that was before you went somewhere and didn't come back." He recalled, casting me a betrayed look when he mentioned that little incident.

May we please not go into details?

"I missed you so much." Yoh cried.

Ohhhhhh boy. Here comes the dramatic music, sunset on the beach background, and big floods of tears that make big puddles.

The only thing good about that is the tear puddles. Puddles are very fun to splash around in.

But this situation is just plain awkward. Like, not awkward as in romantic awkward, but like the this-is-weird awkward.

Yoh was literally crying a flood, a puddle forming at his feet. He was weeping, while clinging to the front of my coat. Of course, that also meant he was ruining my jacket but I am not mad at him for that.

I bet Anna would be soooo mad if she saw this.

It is a good thing she is apparently absent at the moment. I say at the moment because I already know her. She is definitely not going to handle missing Yoh for very long.

Yoh will no doubt encounter her soon. Possibly, very soon. Probably on his way to Patch-whatever-village.

… Um, what am I supposed to do in this kind of situation?

I could stomp around in the puddles like I suggested earlier. Or I could shake him off like a he is a clingy puppy.

…

This is a moment of intense thinking. This is a rare occurrence and only happens once in a millennium. Not an exaggeration. Please do not interrupt.

…

Oh! Oh! I know! I know! Me! Me!

Wait, why am I acting like one of those jumpy kids in school?

And yelling at _myself _on top of that.

I guess I will never understand myself. Oh well, I must be a very complex person.

Anyway, I know how to handle the situation.

I will cry too. It is called sympathy.

Thank you! Thank you all so very much! I always knew I was a genius.

"I missed you too!" I whined.

My eyes watered and then, it was like, BOOM!, and I was sobbing. My tears contributed to the big puddle at our feet.

You know, I always wondered if someone could drown in their own tears. I guess they could. I just hope it is not me.

I never knew I could cry so many tears. There were just so many, forming in the bottom of my eyes and spilling over, sliding down my cheeks. Quite impressive if I must say so myself.

I wrapped my arms around Yoh and nuzzled my head in his hair. Of course this is done in a friendly matter.

No matter how much I think brunettes are hot, I would never lay a hand on Yoh. No way in hell would I ever, ever consider interfering with Yoh and Anna's relationship.

Now, on the other hand, Yoh's twin brother, Hao, is a whole other story. He's free and totally hot. Okay, so he is evil, but can we ignore that for now? Besides, I happen to like the bad boys.

Yoh's hair is very soft. Hm…smells like watermelons…Yum.

Remind me to ask what kind of shampoo he uses.

The funny thing is that while all this was happening, I completely forgot my need to go to the bathroom.

I guess that will just have to wait.

* * *

End of chapter four.

Please, please review.

Constructive critism is appreciated.

Flames are not.

Review.

Please.

I promise I will update faster if all of you review.

Think of it as donating your time to a needy person. Think of it as a community service.

...

Okay, you know what? Forget it.

Just review.


	5. The Big Filler Chap

**Author's Note**:

Hello. I know it's been a long time since I've updated and now I'm rewarding you with a big, ugly filler but please bear with me. I've been having a severe case of writers block and am also admitting to being a big procrastinator.

Anyways, please enjoy!

**Disclaimor**: I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.

* * *

"Hey, do you guys think there's a swan-shaped porta-potty anywhere around here?" I asked, my eyes scanning the area around me for good measure. Nope. Only trees, grass, people, and other things made up of cells.

Yoh scratched his cheek, smiling nervously. "I don't know…"

After Yoh had calmed his big baby self down and had stopped balling into my chest, I'd pulled away because I didn't want Yoh-snot all over my new coat, even if it was already pretty crappy. Yoh's nose wouldn't stop dribbling when I tried to have a civilized conversation with him, and eventually his sniffles annoyed me so much, I told him I'd sick Anna on him. He shut up after that.

Meanwhile, I looked down at the ground to see if Yoh was wearing those cool sandal things -- only to realize that the big puddle of tears had either evaporated, or soaked into the mud so much that the soil hadn't even turned into mud. I decided on the latter, on the sensible reason that if I thought the dirt ate my puddle of tears, then I would have someone, or rather, something, to blame.

So, anyway, I was so devastated by this new turn of events that I wanted to pull an 'Anna' and whack Yoh on the head to see if he'd cry some more and make another puddle. Unfortunately for me (luckily for Yoh), I never got to carry out this plan of action because Horohoro gave me a nice, cold piece of ice to get my tongue stuck to. Yeah, I licked it, and my tongue got stuck.

When I got my tongue un-stuck, I attempted a civilized conversation without the interruption of icky, yellow/green gunk, and thankfully, it actually worked. The conversation consisted of mainly a "How are you?" from Yoh, a "Like snozzled peanuts" from me, and a "Is snozzled even a word?" from Yoh to conclude it.

So yeah, if you were wondering, that was the extent to our 'civilized' conversation. The rest was categorized as a 'not civilized' conversation. That part of our interaction was mainly me talking. Actually, I'm not even sure if that is still considered a conversation if I am the only one talking. But since people can have a conversation with themselves and their brains, I figure I can have a one-sided conversation and still call it a conversation.

Anyway, the conversation went sort of like this:

Me: I need to pee.

Yoh: Go—

Me: I am not peeing in the bushes. It's bad for the environment.

Yoh: I—

Me: No, girls do not pee standing. They have to sit.

Yoh: How—

Me: I have an inner 'Yoh's thoughts processor' in my mind that processes things faster than your own brain does.

Yoh: That—

Me: Yeah, I know, that's so awesome. But of course you agree that _I'm_ more awesome, right?

Yoh said yes like the good mamma's boy he is, and I pointedly ignored the rest what he said because I still needed to go pee.

That was about where the conversation ended.

But I still had to go pee, so I debated on doing the 'I have to pee' dance before deciding that no, hopping like the idiot I was, was not, in fact, going to get rid of my bodies, yellow, waste in the form of urination.

Then, I started looking for a swan shaped toilet, because I'm not sure why but it made a lot of sense in my head.

And that's how we ended up in this perfectly normal conversation about swan porta-potties.

"Are you sure there aren't any?" I asked, peaking behind Yoh's shoulder. I was making sure he wasn't hiding the porta-potties behind him so he could have them all to himself.

Ren growled, irritated. "Yes."

"Really?" I faced him dubiously.

"Yes." He ground out.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes." Wow. He sounded strangled.

"Really?"

"YES!" He screeched in my face.

"Oh." I said, slightly put off.

Ren panted, huffing as he crossed his arms against his chest and turned his back to me.

I pouted. "You don't have to be so rude."

Ren was about to turn around and snap at me, but was quickly interrupted by Yoh.

"Are you in the shaman tournament?" Yoh asked, shuffling his feet.

I ignored him, glaring over his shoulder at Ren. Actually, I was glaring more at the spike on his head than the actual Ren, because that was all I could see.

I craned my neck and stood on my tippy-toes, stumbling over to I craned my neck and stood on my tippy-toes. I kept my eyes on the purple spike, making sure it didn't run away.

Yeah…run away… pfft.

I snickered, but refused to lose my concentration. No matter how funny Ren would look if his spike ran away, I still had to glare at him.

I stumbled over to Yoh, still standing on my toes. He gave me a funny 'What the hell are you doing?' look which I ignored once again.

"Um…Keiko?" He mumbled, looking at me out of his peripheral vision.

How smart of him…I guess I've taught him well. Never directly look at Keiko when she is doing the unknown/unspeakable/hocky-pocky.

"What?" I grumbled, distractedly.

I leant on Yoh's shoulder for support, as well as to push it down some more. He was blocking my view of Ren's face.

He chuckled nervously. "What are you doing?"

I wondered what would happen if I jumped on Yoh to get a better view. Considering my weight (not that I'm fat), Yoh would fall over and since he was standing between Ren and I, he was an obstacle and would be taken down. Or—even better—he would fall on top of Ren (like dominos), and I would be killing two birds with one stone.

I narrowed my eyes and pretended not to hear Yoh's question. I jumped on Yoh, wrapping my legs around his waist and pulling upper body over his shoulder.

"Whoa!" Yoh yelped, stumbling backwards, flailing his arms in the air.

I waited for his feet to slip out from under him.

They didn't.

Damn.

"Keiko?"

I glared at the ground. How dare it disobey me and not trip Yoh?

"_Keiko_?"

My lower lip stuck out as I pouted, deflated from this unfortunate turn of events.

"_**Keiko**_?"

"WHAT?" I yelled, angered.

"Ow." Yoh whined, rubbing his ear.

I turned my pout on him. "Sorry."

"Uh…What are you doing?"

I frowned. "Apologizing for screaming in your ear?"

"Well, yeah, but I meant why are you on me." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"You were supposed to fall." I told him, informing him of my secret plans.

"Um…And?" He looked puzzled.

Oh wait, he probably was. If someone jumped on me and then told them they were supposed to fall I would be confused too, wouldn't I? Actually, no, I wouldn't be. I'd ask them for pie and if they gave me some I would fall and if they didn't then I'd eat them instead.

I looked at him strangely. "And…you were supposed to fall."

He returned the skeptical look, and remained silent. I guess he was waited for me to elaborate…?

I furrowed my brow. "And you didn't." I informed him.

"Oh…? Why?" He asked.

"So we could play human dominoes." I sniffled, wiping at some snot that had dribbled down my nose. Ew.

"Dominoes?"

"Yep. I jumped on you, you were supposed to fall, and then you were supposed to fall into Ren and make him fall too."

I made sure to make my explanation complete with elaborate hand gestures. Of course, I only used one hand because the other was making sure I didn't fall off of Yoh.

It was silent for a moment, and I just assumed it was so Yoh could have a moment to process everything.

But eventually (like, 2 seconds later) I got bored, and started to pet his head.

I fingered his silky hair. "What kind of shampoo do you use?"

He shook his head, his hair splaying out in all directions. "Uh…what?"

"What kind of shampoo do you use?" I repeated, eyeing his chocolate brown hair in envy.

God, that wasn't fair. I was girl, so wasn't I supposed to have better hair than him? I mean, it's not like my hair was horrible or scraggy or has splint-ends but it was PINK (capitalized to emphasize hate on taboos), and PINK cancels out everything else with its utter horridness.

"Herbal Essences." He replied, while looking at my ugly pink hair.

I wondered if he was considering snipping all my hair off with that _Harusame_ sword of his. I narrowed my eyes at him, suspiciously. He better not be thinking of that.

I clutched my long, butt-length hair protectively. Of course, I made sure to hold it far away from me to make sure the PINK color wouldn't contaminate my brain with its evilness.

Sure I hated the color and my hair a lot but I liked to leave it long. I liked to watch other people suffer as they stared at the ugly pinkness. The more of it, the better.

"Flavor?" I asked, watching his hand warily. If he touched my hair then I would kill him.

Dear god, he was still staring at my hair like it was a captivating evilness.

"Watermelons." He said.

I glared at him. "If you touch my hair then I will cut you up, bake you as pie, and eat you for dinner."

He shuddered violently, before giving me a puppy-dog pout. "But it's so shiny and silky looking."

"Har. Har." I fake laughed. "Flattery gets you nowhere. No matter how badly you want to rid the world of pink, I will not fall to your grubby little lies."

"But I'm not lying." He protested, reaching out a hand to touch my hair again.

I shrieked and leaned back, trying to get my hair as far away from him as possible. Remember, this is for the sake of other pink-haters misery as well as Yoh's safety. We can't have all this pink going to his mind, now can we?

In my struggle, I forgot about my hands, and released Yoh's jacket from my clutch. I gasped as I lost my grip on him and fell backwards. My butt landed on the ground with a sickening slush. Mud squished under me and splattered across my face and clothes.

Karma really hates me today, huh.

Slightly shocked by the sudden impact of my butt on the ground, I sat, staring wide-eyed at a worm crawling across the ground. My mouth was hanging open as well, but I quickly shut it after remembering that I didn't want to eat another fly.

Everything got all awkward and quiet. No one spoke or moved, and eventually I got really bored. But then I realized that if no one was moving then they might have been dead, so I got really scared instead.

I figured that if I spoke then everyone would come back to life.

"Ow." I said. "I think my butt bone just got bruised really badly."

I wanted to reach down and rub my sore butt, but hesitated as I realized that my hand was mud-caked. But then I remembered that my butt was also mud-caked, and figured that a little more mud wasn't going to hurt anyone's gluteus maximus.

Yoh started to breathe again, and then everyone else did too. Wow, that really did work.

Wait, if they died and came back to life, does that meant that they are zombies?

"Sorry…?" Yoh mumbled, still slightly shocked.

I sniffled, sad that I was now covered in icky brown gunk that reminded me of poop.

Wait a second…

"I still need to go pee!"

* * *

End of chapter 5

Constructive criticism is highly appreciated.

Flames are unwelcome.

Reviews are what I write for!

Please review.

I seriously need it for motivation.

I am lacking in that area.

I repeat, please review.


	6. Libraries and Lyserg

**Author's Note:** I have issues with writer's block. It's won't go away! So...yah. This chapter is very, very, very, very, very different from the previous ones. Don't kill me if you don't like it. It's really weird because my writing style keeps changing. My writing style at the beginning, when I wrote the first chapter is totally different than it is now, and I can't right anything decent if I try to write in a style that's not mine anymore. I tried that the last chapter and it was bad. And boring. And a filler. Basically, Keiko is going to seem OOC to you, and I'm going to have to ask you to put up with it. Sorry.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.

* * *

Chapter 6:

"What?! Why is _he _going to become leader?" Horohoro yelled, jabbing his index finger at Yoh.

"I've decided." Ren replied, nonchalantly. "We share the same fate, and that's why we'll need a leader."

Horohoro stare at him in disbelief, sputtering incoherent words.

Ren looked at all of us, before declaring "I guess it's decided then." He turned and walked off, Yoh and the others quickly following.

A small, ironic smile lit up my face as I watched the backs of my new 'group'. I would never be like them. So closely knit-together, so trusting, so…like friends. A bitter chuckle erupted from my throat. Sighing, I gazed at the yellow sky.

Just who am I?

"Keiko?" Yoh called.

I jumped, snapping out of my thoughts.

"You coming?" He asked. I realized they had gained some distance. I nodded, taking one last look at the painted sunset, before running after them.

I couldn't stop a delicate smile from forming on my lips.

* * *

"**Keru?"**

"**Yes, master?"**

"**Can you feel him?"**

"**He's near."**

**

* * *

  
**

"Bye, bye Billy!" I yelled, waving my hand frantically as I watched the blue pick-up truck speed off into the distance.

"What now, Leader?" Horohoro asked, turning away from the truck.

Yoh scratched his cheek and grinned. "Yeah, I wonder what…"

Horohoro sighed, sweatdropping.

"The best way would be to go to a place with information." Ren said, ignoring Ryo, who, for some reason, was yelling at the sky.

"Oh," I started. "That makes sense."

Ren glared at me.

I ignored him, shrugging it off. I think I'm getting used to his hostility.

"So, where to?"

* * *

"The library?" I asked, taking in the high book shelves, filled to the brim with thick, both old and new books.

Ren nodded. "I'll be using the computer to access information."

"Hm…" I murmured thoughtfully. "I'll be looking at the books."

I watched them approach the front desk, asking the brunette librarian to use the computer. The librarian nodded and led them away.

When they were out of sight, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and sighed. Another library to search through…

Glancing around at the piles of stacked books waiting to be shelved, I felt my spirits sink. This would take all day. At least.

Grimacing, I turned and began to walk towards the section labeled as 'Spiritual/Supernatural'. I doubted that _it _would be here, after all, it hadn't been in the other hundred libraries I had scanned, but I couldn't afford to miss it.

Anything to get my hands on that book.

I ran my fingers along the spines of the books, feeling the gold embroidered letters and hand woven threads of each unique literary piece under my fingertips. Some were leather, while others were paperback, or hardcover. But none of them were the one I wanted. No—needed.

Reaching the end of the aisle, I frowned in disappointment. Perhaps it was in a different section?

A heavy sigh heaved my chest. I trudged out of the aisle, utterly discouraged. I was about to go find Yoh and the others, when I spotted the Mythology sign. But instead of lifting, my hopes sunk farther into the pit of my stomach, churning pitifully .

I scowled at the bold letters on the sign, silently cursing it for reminding me of the other sections I had yet to check. Still, I trudged over to the newer, unfamiliar aisle and began the same method of trailing my fingers along the spines.

Nothing.

When I bumped into the end of the section, I had found nothing of relevance. I was empty-handed.

Again.

* * *

"A new ally?" I asked, sipping my drink. It sizzled and popped on my tongue.

We were standing in the lobby of a motel. Yoh and the others hadn't been able to gather anything relevant on Patch Village. It turned out that the Tao's online databases didn't have a thing.

And somehow, Ryo had picked up some new guy along the way.

I glanced at the boy as I drank. He had lime green hair that spiked out on the sides of his head. His eyes matched his hair, though they held a sorrowful, mourning glint that I could not identify. The boy wore a checkered green poncho, and a white blouse under that. Quite a handsome boy, actually.

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. I took the last sip of my drink and threw it away.

The boy turned to Yoh. "Nice to meet you." He held out his hand.

I swished the last remains of the fizzy soft drink in my mouth, savoring the taste.

Horohoro icily protested. "But we can't just----

"Nice to meet you too." Yoh greeted, smiling warmly. He shook the boy's hand.

I choked, coughing and sputtering. The last sip of my drink spit out of my mouth, staining the carpet. Horohoro patted my back as I struggled to breathe normally.

I shot him a thankful glance, but he wasn't looking at me. Instead he was glaring at Yoh, who was fraternizing with a stranger/possible enemy.

"That's my master." Ryo sniffled. "Not allowing a cute kid to travel alone."

I straightened my back and glanced at Ryo, disbelieving. "I always knew you were gay!" I jabbed my index finger at Ryo, before moving it to the boy. "But him? For a second I thought he was straight!" I crossed my arms against my chest and cocked my head to the side. "Well, now that I think about it, it makes sense. What with the girly face and all. Wow, I think I've just met a stereotype."

I gasped in awe.

"ZOMG!"

Ryo glanced strangely at me. "Gay? Boy? Him?" He sputtered, looking frantically between me and the boy.

"That's a boy." Horohoro stated.

I furrowed my brow at him. "Um. Duh?"

"What? Really?" Ryo exclaimed, looking horrified.

"Seriously?" I mumbled in disbelief. "Then the poor boy's **not **gay?"

"Guess not." Horohoro wrinkled his nose in disgust.

I giggled as Ryo led the boy to another room, mumbling about checking if he was a boy. I wonder…

We all stared blankly at the door.

. . .

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Ryo bellowed through the door.

I bent over from as I guffawed hysterically. I wiped at the tears in my eyes. "Did he just," I giggled. "just look at his 'male parts'?"

No one had a chance to answer me before Ryo opened the door, and the two stepped back into the room.

"Well, everyone makes mistakes." He chuckled nervously. The boy just smiled at him.

"Anyways, I'm against him joining" Horohoro declared, glaring frostily.

"Me too." I pitched in.

Ren nodded. "I am against it as well."

Yoh glanced worriedly between us all.

"He might back-stab us. He's not trustworthy." Ren stated.

I nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't…do that." The boy murmured, his eyes shadowed by his bangs. "I just want strong allies."He gritted his teeth.

"What?" Horohoro asked.

The boy flung his poncho off, falling into a battle stance. "I'll test you myself." He raised his arm. I squinted at the strange contraption attached to it. Dowsing? "Morphine! Oversoul!"

Yoh, Ren, and Horohoro let out a sharp gasp. I watched as they burst through the glass door, sending it crumbling in tiny shards. The boy's dowsing crystal shot after them in a straight line.

I did not run with them. Instead, I grimaced at the boy, but retreated to the safety of a different room. It never had been one of my goals to get involved in shaman fights. I sighed and pressed my ear against the door.

"Lyserg!" Ryo yelled. So the boy's name is Lyserg, huh. "I thought you needed allies!"

"I do." Lyserg replied. "That's why!"

I did not need to hear anymore. So, I ventured to the other side of the room, where the motel's owner was running down a set of stairs, panting.

"What's going on?" he asked frantically. He must have heard the sound of glass shattering, and the yells of Yoh and the others.

I smiled and strode over to him. "Oh, nothing really. It was just one of my friends that dropped a glass trinket from Italy." I lied smoothly, resting a hand on the man's shoulder.

The man was short and plump. He had a slight mustache the same midnight black as his gelled hair. He was bent over with his hands on his knees.

He lifted his head to look at me. "O-oh." He stuttered. I shot him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry." I said soothingly. "We'll be sure to clean it all up."

A pink flush rose to his cheeks. I fought down the smirk that was forming on my lips.

Men…So gullible.

"No, no!" The man seemed to gain a hold of himself. He straightened up and flattened the wrinkles in his clothes. "I'll send one of the cleaning maids down. It's standard customer service." He cleared his throat.

I inwardly panicked. "No!" The man was startled at my outburst. "I mean, it's proper for we, who made the mess, to clean it up!"

Flustered, I glanced around the room in a hurry. I couldn't allow him to see the mess Yoh had made of his glass doors. My gaze landed on a coffee cup placed on the counter.

The man shook his head. "No, no. We will—

"OOPS!" I exclaimed loudly as I picked up the coffee mug and poured it over my head.

I winced as the scalding hot liquid drenched my body. The brown drops slid down strands of hair that had been tainted caramel by the coffee and dribbled onto the carpeted floor. My clothes were also brown , and they clung to my skin with an added weight dragging them down.

I hoped the clothes weren't as see-through and revealing as it felt like they were.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" I squealed apologetically , pointing at the spot on the carpet that had been unfortunate enough to be under me, when I had thought up the idea of that little 'incident'.

The man stood stock still, shocked. Then, he snapped back into it. "Oh my! We must get you cleaned up!"

I laughed nervously. "Um…yeah. Sure." _Whatever makes you forget about what was going on in the other room._

He gestured towards one of the motel rooms with a bathroom in it. "You can temporarily use this room. It has a shower in it. I'll have a maid bring you a towel and a spare set of clothes."

I nodded and smiled gratefully at him. I wondered why he was being so nice. Normally, people aren't so generous unless…

Walking towards the room he had kindly offered to me, I watched him from the corner of my eye. He gaze strayed from my face, down to my chest, where my lacy bra was showing right through the soaked clothing.

I bit back a gag, feeling a slight flush on my cheeks. So that's why, huh? How predictable. Men are so…ugh. I shook my head, revolted.

When I reached the room, I closed the door and dashed over to the window. Peering out, I watched as Lyserg snapped Horohoro's snowboard in half like it was a toothpick. Soon after, Ren's pointy-weapon thing joined it in dead toothpick land.

I grimaced at the scene, but turned away from the window. Whatever kind of fight was going on down there, Yoh would win. He always did. I snorted. Even against me.

Trudging into the bathroom, I shut the door and glanced at myself in the mirror.

I was right. My hair looked much better brown than pink. Of course. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Pink is gross.

Sighing, I peeled the drenched clothes off and dumped them on the tiled floor. Stepping into the warm, sprinkling water, the last remains of an unfortunate coffee spill washed down the drain in a brown swirl.

It was strange how my new travel companions were having an intense battle outside, complete with angsty flashbacks and cheesy speeches, while I was standing here in a shower, relaxing.

I shrugged it off.

It didn't really matter to me what happened to them. After all, I would only be with for a while. After that—well, let's just say there won't be any more of that 'Nice, goofy, air-headed Keiko' they met.

That Keiko never existed. And it never would.

I smirked and bit back a cold cackle.

Naïve men.

* * *

End of chapter 6.

Constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

I do not like flames so don't write them.

I love reviews more than chicken pie. which is quite an achievement, if you ask me.

So, please, please, please, please review.


	7. Hospitals and Restaurants

**Author's Note**: It's been a long time since I updated, so you'll probably have to reread some of the old chapters to refresh your memory. Sorry about that. This story was giving me writer's block so I started writing a new one, and then I had to work on that one. So, yeah, that was kind of stupid but it did make the stupid block go away.

I'm kind of uneasy about this chapter. It's kind of bad, but I'd like you guys to tell me what you think about it.

And thank you very much to my reviewers, who inspired me to keep writing this story. If not for them I probably would have abandoned it.

**P.S THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT (kind of)- I CHANGED THE SUMMARY AND THE TITLE. DON'T BE ANGRY AT ME. PLEASE. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.**

Enjoy.

* * *

"Yoh!" I called, frantically waving my hands.

His brunet head turned. "Keiko?"

My feet pounded against the pavement. "Wait up!"

He halted, patiently waiting for me to catch up.

"Hey," I panted, gasping for breath.

"Where were you?" he asked. He tilted his head in confusion. Ha, I bet he never even noticed I was gone.

"The bathroom," I said shortly. Hopefully, he didn't think I was constipated or something.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again. "Right, so, what'd you guys do while I was gone?"

Yoh's eyes flickered towards the two limp bodies of Horohoro and Ren, and then to Lyserg and Ryo, who were standing slightly behind Yoh. "Well, it's kind of a long story…" he trailed off, laughing nervously.

"Okay…" I shot him a suspicious look, but decided to let it go. "So, then where are you taking them?" I pointed to Ren and Horohoro's bodies.

Yoh gripped both of their arms and was struggling to pull them over his shoulder. However, this was what I label as 'epic fail' because the two boys' bodies were only suspended half way in the air.

Yoh looked down at them. "Hospital," he said shortly.

I froze, panic flitting across my face. I stared wide eyed at Yoh, shocked. Memories flashed in my mind like a broken record, playing over and over. Quickly, I collected myself. I forced my face into a look of calm and ease. I hoped Yoh hadn't caught my little slip-up.

I shrugged casually. "Need help?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. They're kinda heavy."

* * *

The hospital was small.

The walls were a creamy beige color that matched the white examination tables. The lobby had several rows of brown bench chairs and a few small, glass tables. There were only about five rooms for patients, and I was beginning to wonder how people could call this a hospital.

But perhaps that was good. The fact that it did not look like a hospital was probably the only thing stopping me from running out of the place. And yet, that was not enough to stop the painful flood of torturous memories as they played in an endless cycle in my mind.

My wide, panic-stricken eyes flitted across the room nervously. My forehead was wet and sticky with sweat and my hands were clenched tightly at my side.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, though not at all gently. They were violent, pushing at the sides of my stomach with intense force. I felt like any moment now, I was going to keel over and start puking up a sea of bile. In fact, I probably would have, if I wasn't so keenly aware of the other presence in the room—Lyserg. He was in a daze, yes, but that did not mean he could not be a witness. I could not afford to have people seeing me in those weak moments of mine where my façade had been broken.

Why I hadn't already escaped from this hellhole was something I did not know. Maybe it was because my legs were frozen stiff in fright, or maybe it was because I was finally going through with my hopeless vow of leaving behind my past by overcoming the fears driven from them.

I closed my eyes, blocking out the world. I had to calm myself down. I had to.

I took a deep breath and counted to ten before exhaling. I waited for the loud pounding of my heart to slow to a normal pace, though it never quite got there. I would have to settle for a near average pace.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, taking in the hospital lobby room scene once again. I was almost flung back into my fit of pure panic, but managed to catch myself before I could.

I had to stay calm.

A nurse in a white dress with pink buttons raced around the corner and down the hall.

My resolve was instantly shattered. My body trembled violently, shudders crawling down my spine. Eyes once more encased in terror, I sunk as far down as I could in my seat.

_Hide_, my mind screamed at me. _Hide. _

Suddenly, I felt myself snapping back at my mind. _No! You vowed…_

Summoning up every bit of courage and self-restraint in my body, I hardened my calm and cheery façade and straightened up in my seat. I had to do this. One small step at a time…You can do it.

"Hey, you!" I called, rising from my seat at one of the rather hard chairs.

The nurse stopped in her tracks, almost skidding to a stop. "Huh? Huh?" Her head shook from side to side, so fast it was almost a blur.

I bit my lip hard—so hard the metallic taste of blood began to filled my mouth. But it was necessary to stop myself from flinching.

"Me! Over here!" I said, pointing to myself. I smiled widely, the complete opposite of what I was really feeling.

Her head snapped towards me. "Oh." She let out a sigh of relief and placed a hand over her heart. "You scared me. Do you need anything?"

I felt like asking her to kill herself in the most torturous way possible, but I was afraid that might get me sent back to _there_. I suppressed a shudder.

I smiled lightly at her. " Oh, nothing. You just look a lot like someone else."

"Let me guess, Aoya Imori?" She asked with a knowing smirk on her face.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

She rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly. "A lot of people make that mistake."

"Oh."

"Well, then," she said, walking away. "Nice meeting you."

I stared at her retreating figure as she disappeared around the corner. "But—but…" I sputtered helplessly. "We don't even know each other's names!"

But the hall was empty now, and the Aoya Imori look-alike was gone. All that answered me was a long stretch of silence.

I felt the tensed muscles around my mouth relaxing, allowing my forced smile to drop to a near-grimace. That helped. Kind of.

I glanced around the hospital lobby, trying not to focus on anything that might bring up a memory. The near white walls were unnerved me further in my already uneasy state. I kept the exit in sight at all times.

I wasn't afraid of getting lost or anything, seeing as I decided I had already did my fair share of brave deeds today, and wasn't planning on venturing farther into the unknown domain. After all, that could trigger painful memories. But knowing that the exit was there, and no one was there to stop me from leaving, kept my mind from completely shutting down. I had to know I wasn't trapped in here, and that it was nothing like what happened back then.

I needed a distraction.

Sighing, I pivoted around and stomped childishly back to my seat. "What a weird lady!" I grumbled, pouting. "Don't you think so too, Lyserg?"

The green-headed boy beside me stared at the ground absent-mindedly. "…Yeah."

It was a good thing he was too caught up in his own grief to notice anything going on outside of his mind. If it wasn't for his daze-like state, I was sure he would have noticed my rather odd reaction towards the hospital and the nurse. I mean, if he was fully awake and didn't notice, he'd have to be either to be blind or an idiot.

I eyed him suspiciously. "Are you even listening?"

"…Yeah." He didn't look up.

Well, he wasn't particularly interesting, but it was kind of amusing to toy with him when he wasn't aware of anything he was saying.

I furrowed my brow. "Are you just saying yes to everything I say?"

"…Yeah," he replied, his head drooped down sullenly.

"See!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms against my chest. "You _aren't _listening!"

It was silent. I felt like I could hear a toilet flush from all the way down the street. Yeah, that's how quiet it was.

"…Yeah," Lyserg mumbled, after the moment of awkward silence.

I stared incredulously at him. He was really out of it, wasn't he?

"Fine then!" I sniffed, frustrated. "_Be_ that way!"

"…Yeah."

Silence filled the air.

"Meanie," I huffed finally, stiffly taking my seat beside him.

I was actually grateful towards Lyserg. He was being a good distraction, though a rather monotonous one as well. But at least he had drawn my attention away from _other,_ more _pressing_ matters.

Now, all I had to do was keep myself distracted until Yoh and the others came. Then we could leave this horrid place. Forget that stupid overcoming-my-past-and-fears vow. I was never going to step foot in this place again. Not over my dead body.

* * *

"…Yeah."

"Do you think I'm awesome?"

"…Yeah."

"Do you think I'm cute?"

"…Yeah."

"Do you think I should rule the world?"

"…Yeah."

"Are you lying?"

"…Yeah."

"…You know what?"

"…Ye—

"You're boring. AND annoying."

"…Yeah."

"So shut up."

"…Yeah."

* * *

Footsteps echoed through the hallways and entered the lobby.

A voice grew gradually louder until it bent around the corner. "Didn't that nurse look a lot like Aoya Imori?"

"Horohoro-_kun_!" I burst from my seat and pounced on the unsuspecting figure.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed, stumbling backwards in attempt to regain balance.

"You _finally _woke up!" I giggled in delight.

I wasn't too keen on having all that human contact with Horohoro, but really, I was just honest-to-goodness relieved to see them. Soon, we could get the hell out of here. Besides, forcing myself to have contact served for another distraction, though not one that was very pleasant.

I didn't like touching people—not even Yoh or Anna. Especially if _they_ were touching _me_. If it was according to my will, then I had it under control, but when other people touched me…I couldn't handle it.

I mean, I knew I had allowed Yoh to touch me before, when he and I were first reunited at the Lily Five incident, and I had pounced on his back too, but I had felt I had control over the situation, so it was fine. _I _was _allowing_ him to touch me. That was okay, though it still made me slightly uneasy.

Old habits really _were_ hard to get rid of.

"Get off him, you cretin," ordered a familiarly irritating voice.

My ear twitched and I swiveled my head around to meet Ren's rhino peaked head. I released Horohoro and slid down so my feet could touch the floor. God, it's not my fault I'm so frickin' short.

"Well, hello to you to," I said, smiling. It was about time I slipped back into my façade.

"Lyserg," Yoh called, smiling. Everyone's head snapped around to where Lyserg was sitting, his gaze lowered to the ground. "Ren and Horohoro are better now."

I frowned, pouting. Great, now no one's paying attention to me anymore. I actually think I prefer Stare-At-Keiko day over Ignore-Keiko day. You see, ignoring me does not go over well with me. I hate being ignored. That is, unless, I don't want to attract attention.

"There was nothing wrong with me to begin with," Ren objected, glaring at Yoh.

I shot him an incredulous glance, but kept my mouth shut. Because yeah, Ren was fine and that's totally why he was wrapping bandages around his arm. I sighed inwardly and shook my head. Men and their stupid, over-inflated egos.

Horohoro smirked, his arms folded behind his head. "You're spear is in pieces."

Oh good, that means he can't cut my head off with it. Well, that's probably even better for Horohoro, seeing as he always seems to be in higher danger of getting beheaded than I.

Ren turned his glare to Horohoro, the spike on his head growing a few inches. "What? Compared to your snowboard, it's..."

Whoa! My eyes widened. Did Ren's spike just _grow_? Seriously, what shampoo does that guy use? I tilted my head to the side, bemused. I wondered if it was one of those hair-growth stimulation hair product thingies. Or maybe it's his hair spray. Whatever.

"I'm really sorry," Lyserg said, his grief-stricken voice pulling me from my thoughts.

Glancing over at him, I saw that his head was bowed in front of Yoh. Dude, bowing was _so _1930's.

"I'll pay for all the medical expenses and for new weapons." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a rectangular check. "Please write any amount down, here." He handed the check to Yoh.

"Trying to buy your way out, huh?" Ren grunted, crossing his arms against his chest.

I glanced at him, raising my eyebrow. "You don't like it?"

He huffed. "Of course not. Money doesn't solve everything."

I stared at him strangely. Weird boy. I mean, seriously, who _doesn't _want free money?

I shrugged. "Well, yeah," I said, "but it does solve a lot of things. If I were you I'd take it and be done with it. Money doesn't come easily, you know. "

I smirked inwardly. I, for one, should know that first hand. After all, jobs were scarce, and no one really wanted to hire some dirty 5-year old kid anyway. And pick-pocketing wasn't always easy, you know. You had to pick out the good ones.

My philosophy was to never steal from the poor, and not because I'm so kind as to know they need the money, but because they never have enough money to satisfy me anyway. The wealthy are packed. Their wallets are full of money I could use to buy my lunch for the next month or so.

Ren huffed and turned away.

I glared. Fine then, be that way. Jerk.

"Well then…" Lyserg trailed off. He turned and began to walk away.

Yes! I cheered silently in my head. No more evil pink fairy of doom! I shot a wary glance at the small spirit thing, floating beside the green-haired boy's head. Never let looks deceive you. I swear, that fairy is out to get me.

"Lyserg," Yoh called, smiling kindly. "I told you I would listen to your reasons."

Lyserg froze and turned, astonished.

I groaned loudly, dropping my head in my hands. No…Yoh, how could you? How could you do this to me? And the evil fairy was finally going to leave…

I could have bit Yoh's head off if not for keeping up my little reputation, if not for the fact that we were actually leaving this hellhole. That realization alone was enough to make me ecstatic, evil pink fairy or not.

As soon as Yoh began to walk towards the exit, I bolted out the door and into the bright sunshine. I had made it out of there alive, thank god. The tension and intense unease from the hospital immediately evaporated from me.

I was safe. I didn't see anyone shooting strange looks at me, so that meant they hadn't noticed my constant fidgeting and wary glances at every nurse or doctor that passed by.

Well, at least that was over now.

I sighed as Lyserg stepped out of the hospital doors. But now, I would have to go through the bore of listening to some angsty flashback I held no interest in hearing.

Oh joy.

* * *

"My father…" Lyserg started, his eyes glued to the table, "was the world number one detective."

Oh no! I gulped. Here it comes…The dreaded moment.

I had to resist the urge to cover my ears. Hey, it's not my fault I'm not interested in some angsty flashback.

So, instead of listening, I decided to just, you know, day dream. The restaurant was nice-- not really busy, but not empty either. The sun was shining brightly through the window, spreading warmth to my skin. As I sighed contently and stared out the window at the bright, blue sky, I was instantly grateful for my decision to take the window seat.

The sound of Lyserg talking drowned into the background as a low buzz. All I could hear was the breeze rustling the leaves outside. Winter would be coming soon. I wasn't fond of the cold, but I loved to play in the white, sparkly snow. Snowmen where always fun to make, and snowball fights were always a good way of taking out your revenge on someone with them noticing your evil intentions.

I absent-mindedly watched as people passed by the window. There was a small girl in a bright red dress, holding onto her mother's hand. A happy family passed by soon after, the two children holding identical balloons.

My thoughts strayed from the smiley-faced balloons, to my own family. I didn't miss them. After all, I had always hated them. Well, maybe not Father. He was always kind to me. But Mother…Mother had abandoned me. And Brother—_no._ I cut my own thoughts off, shaking my head. I have no brother, I told myself. He is not my brother.

I had to stop thinking about my family. That always broke my façade, whether I liked it or not. Maybe it was because that horrendous family of mine could never be part of the slap-happy, air-headed façade I had created. They just didn't fit into the picture. The girl I pretended to be had no quelms, no worries, and no regrets. Not that I regretted doing _that_ to my brother. I knew full and well he deserved it.

I sighed, my eyes cast downwards towards the table. I felt so tired, so _drained_. Even though it had come naturally, it had been a while since I had to use my façade. And I had to admit, I was a bit rusty. It was hard to for me to keep it up. My fake personality kept changing, sometimes minor changes and sometimes major. Slipping back into the way I previously lived was harder than I thought it would be. Especially since I always had to keep the façade up, not only when I was speaking, but in my mind itself too. If all my thoughts were as fake as my words, then there would be no slip-ups.

Okay, so maybe I was already failing at the thought processing thing, but even if I wasn't good enough to fool myself, I was skilled enough to fool Yoh. That in itself was a great achievement. After all, I knew Yoh well enough to know how perceptive he was.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The heat from the sun was starting to bother me. My skin had always been naturally pale, so I didn't fare well when exposed to the open sun.

I closed my eyes and took a sip from the cold, iced tea I had ordered. The ice clinked in the glass as I drank, a sound I found to be rather relaxing. I relished the soothing coolness as it washed down my dry throat.

"…I finally found out that he was Hao—

I bolted up in my seat, my eyes snapping wide open. Hao? Lyserg mentioned Hao?

"Keiko?" Yoh asked, frowning in concern. "Are you okay?"

I looked around, realizing that everyone was staring at me for my sudden outburst.

I sighed and sunk back into my chair. "Yeah."

Well, as long as Hao wasn't physically here himself, I was fine. I mean, he was hot to look at and all, but really, I didn't want him finding out who I was. That could lead to major problems. And no, I'm not talking about him stalking me. I'm talking about him burning me up when I refuse to give him the stupid book.

Yoh and the others stared at me for one last moment before turning back to Lyserg, who continued to talk.

I sighed heavily and began to drink the cold tea again. I was so jumpy. Just because someone mentioned his name didn't mean he was going to appear out of nowhere and stab me in the back. Shaking my head, I cleared my mind.

I really had to get a hold of myself.

* * *

"Lyserg-sama!" A high-pitched, childish voice called.

I turned away from the window. Strange, that voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Huh?" I mumbled, staring at the empty seats of the table. I glanced around, bewildered. Only Lyserg and Ryu were left. "Where are the others?"

But apparently no one was paying attention to me. No, they were too busy looking at the doors of the restaurant, where some familiar five-year old girl came running in. She blushed as she ran up to Lyserg and pounced on him.

I blinked, shocked. What the heck was going on here? When had the others left? Well, I guess that's what I get for daydreaming. But seriously, how could I not have noticed them leaving? And why didn't they tell me?

"Hey," I drawled. "Aren't you one of the Tulip Five or something?" That was their name, right?

The little girl looked up at me, before her face lit up in recognition. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "It's you!" A glare suddenly marred her face. "And it's the Lily Five!"

Oh. Oops.

I laughed nervously, but Villy or Milly or whatever her name was had already turned back to her "Lyserg-sama". Why she called him that I'll never know. Maybe she had a crush on him or something.

"Those three said they were going to defeat you," she told Lyserg. "So, leave this town with us!"

Huh? Okay, now I'm really confused.

Lyserg stood up, a solemn look on his face. "I see. Then take me to where they are." He began to walk out of the restaurant, with the Milly/Villy-what's-her–face chasing after him.

I could have laughed. Wow, he was just _great_ at following directions. Unless "those three" are out of town, then he totally disregarded the poor girl's request.

Ryu and I sat there for a few more moments, just sipping on our drinks. Well, actually, Ryu was sulking, for reasons unknown to me, so really, I was the only one drinking.

Suddenly, a loud crash resonated from behind the building. I jumped, accidentally knocking over my drink. I watched the dark yellow liquid spill over the table, dripping onto the tile floor.

"What was that?" Ryu asked, suddenly alert.

I shook my head as I grabbed a napkin and began to clean up the mess. "I don't know."

Ryu gulped, looking out the window worriedly. "Is Lyserg gon'na be alright?"

"I don't know." I wiped up the liquid on the floor.

A loud yell that sounded distinctly like Lyserg came from outside, and then, soon after, a battle cry of Ren's and Horohoro's.

"I—I'm gonna go check on them," Ryu stammered, jumping up from his seat. I watched as he dashed outside and rounded the corner to the back of the building.

Sighing, I stood up and strolled over to the back of the restaurant. I positioned myself on the side of the window, my fingertips pressed lightly against the clear glass.

I saw Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, and Ryu in battle stances, confronting three other men. One had a huge clown spirit, another a big dinosaur thing, and the last some chain thingy I didn't know the name of.

For a moment, I wondered if maybe I should go out and help too. They were fighting, so why shouldn't I?

I watched Yoh lunge at one of the men with his oversoul on. They would be fine, I knew that. Besides, it was never wise to get involved in battles needlessly.

I closed my eyes and drew away from the window. Well, whatever. It wasn't any of _my _business.

* * *

End of Chapter 7

Reviews appreciated, no matter how short they are.

Constructive Criticism will be taken into account for future chapters.

Flames not welcome.

Please Review!


	8. Blizzards and Hao

**Author's Note:** Here is the eighth chapter. If anything is confusing you, feel free to ask me about it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.**

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**Chapter 8:**

The frigid wind nipped at my red cheeks. Large, white snowflakes blew in clumps at my face. I had to look at the ground and shield my face with my arm to protect myself. The sky above was dark, the sun shielded by the thick, ominous clouds looming overhead.

My hair, damp from melted snowflakes, was draped into a loose ponytail at the nape of my neck, to keep it from whipped around in my face. It was hard to see. The snow blizzard raging around us turned anything 5 meters away from me into a blob of white.

We—Yoh, Horohoro, Ren, Lyserg, Ryu, and I—pushed through the harsh weather conditions, guided only by Lyserg's dowsing skills and the frozen, iced over river beside us. Snow-topped mountains sides towered over us on both sides, as if to leave no room to escape. It was as if they were closing in on us.

I shivered in my old, thin coat. It looked warm and balky, but in reality, it was none of that sort. The fabric was loosely knitted together, leaving small holes in the cloth for the cold wind of bite at my bare skin.

Sure, it had nice pockets and all (actually, all the clothes I bought did. It's good luck, I tell you), but it wasn't the best quality coat. It had no lining and the snow was seeping right through the cloth and onto my bare arms. The only thing I had under it was my sleeveless blouse and a bra (duh). But that didn't help much.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" I asked, my teeth chattering. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to preserve some of the warmth.

Lyserg nodded. "Yes. I'm only an amateur at dowsing, but I can sense the strong aura's of shaman."

My body trembled in the bitter coldness. I rubbed my arms, but my attempts were in vain. It was just too cold out here.

I glanced at Yoh out of the corner of my eye. It wasn't fair! How were they able to stand this?

Seriously, they weren't even shivering. Okay, so maybe Horohoro was, but that was only because he was snowboarding and fell in the snow. So basically they were making me feel like a complete wimp, be it intentionally or not.

"At this rate, we'll freeze to death," Yoh mused, somehow managing to sound calm. He sighed.

I almost rolled my eyes. I think I was _already_ freezing to death. I couldn't feel my toes in my sneakers, and my fingers could've been chopped off and I wouldn't have noticed. Yeah, that's how numb they were.

"God, remind me why I chose to follow you guys here," I grumbled through gritted teeth.

Yoh glanced worriedly at me. "You look cold. Are you okay?"

I wanted to scream "I _am_ cold!", but because the Keiko they knew, or rather, _thought_ they knew would never snap like that, I quickly swallowed back my words. Instead, I grinned at him reassuringly. At least, it made me feel better that Yoh would never be able to tell just how fake that grin was.

"I'm fine," I said, and then added, "I like chocolate." I hoped that was random enough to satisfy him.

Yoh chuckled. "When we get to the next town I could get some hot chocolate for you," he said, still unconvinced of my wellness.

I suppressed a frown. Damn him. He was supposed to bugger off after I said the chocolate statement, not console me further.

Inwardly, I sighed. Well, at least the chocolate statement was true.

But on the outside, my face only brightened. "Yay! Thank you, Yoh."

I hoped he couldn't tell how hard I was trying to put on the stupid façade while I was on my way to becoming a human ice cube. But that was probably a doomed hope, because the "Yay" part came out snippy and irritated, and the "Thank you, Yoh," part sounded more like I was forcing it through gritted teeth. Which, by the way, I was, but he wasn't supposed to know that.

I really, really needed to brush up on my acting skills. _And_, I needed to get out of this blizzard before all my energy was depleted. If that happened, then I would get drowsy, and that would be a complete disaster. When I'm really, really tired I have no clue what I'm saying, and I just might spill the beans on one of my secrets. It's kind of like I'm drunk on sleepiness.

Not good.

Yoh shot me a concerned look. "Are you sure you okay? You don't look so good."

And of course, to make matters worse, Yoh had to notice my sudden snarkiness that was actually (though unknown to him) my real attitude.

Maybe I could just dismiss it as the cold affecting me. At least _that_ wouldn't be a lie. After all, it really was affecting me, just not the way he thought it was. It was making my façade slip, but he probably just thought it was making me irritable.

"I'm just cold," I muttered. I blew on my numb fingers, trying to regain some feel in them. It didn't work.

"Oh," Yoh said, looking strangely relieved. Probably because I've never allowed my façade to slip off of me that far, even when I was eight and staying at his temple thingy. That's right; I've been doing this fake Keiko thingy ever since I got out of the m---

I shook my head, dispersing the bad thought. Better go the safe way.

Anyway, I had been doing the façade thing ever since I met Yoh and a little while before that too. So Yoh had always known me as the fake, nonexistent Keiko. He had never met the real Keiko and for that I was grateful. There was nothing I was more uncomfortable with than people knowing the real me. Knowing who I really was meant knowing all my secrets. And people who knew my secrets could use them against me.

I guess Yoh didn't like the real me very much, since he looked so relieved when I seemingly became "myself" again. Why that bothered me so much I'll never know, but at least I had convinced him otherwise now.

Amidamaru appeared beside Yoh. "We best take precautions against the cold." He looked into the distance. "Or we might end up like that."

I blinked, befuddled. "Like what?" I asked. This time, my curiosity was legit. That was probably a good thing, seeing as my acting skills were epically failing me right now.

Amidamaru gestured in front of us.

My gaze followed his, and sure enough, I found myself staring at five human-shaped snow sculptures.

"They look kind of familiar," I said, staring at the sculptures.

Yoh's face contorted into a mixture of shock, horror, and recognition. I watched, slightly amused, as he ran up to the five figures and began to rub the snow off of one of the faces.

And there, under the snow was the face of Sharona, one of the Flower Five. Or whatever their name was.

Yoh yelped in surprise, jumping away from the figures.

The cold was definitely affecting me. I was having a hard time not blurting out my real thoughts. And what I was thinking right now was so not-fake-Keiko like, I didn't even want to know what Yoh's reaction would be.

Because right then and there I was totally thinking about stripping the frozen girls' clothes off and sowing them into a quilt, and then leaving them to die. Because, hey, I didn't know them and therefore did not care about them. They could jump off a cliff for all I cared. Or, they could just stay there in the cold and die like that. Either way, I didn't care.

But apparently Yoh did, because he insisted on de-freezing them.

And the whole time he and the others were uncovering the five, I stood in the back, unable to think about anything other than how much I wanted that dang quilt.

* * *

We sat in a small cave, protected from the blizzard raging outside by the strong, stone walls around us. A fire burned in the center of the circle we sat in, bringing warmth to the small refuge we had created.

The fire's light cast dark shadows on the walls behind us. When we first entered the cave I started giggling (typical fake-Keiko behavior) about how much Ryu's shadow looked like Dracula, due to his strange, new, Elvis hairstyle. Was he trying to be Elvis or Dracula? That dude should seriously make up his mind already.

I sat beside the fire, rubbing warmth into my numb hands. I had to admit that maybe it was a good idea to save the five girls. Not because it was saving lives or any of that crap, but because now we had settled down so they could recover, giving me the time to recover as well.

"Thank you, Lyserg-sama!" Milly cried, smiling brilliantly at the green-haired dowser.

I sighed. The stupid infatuation was starting to get rather annoying, with Lyserg lightly blushing and Ryu moping. But whatever, as long as I had my little fire to warm me up, I was happy.

"Why are you climbing the mountain I in that clothing?" Horohoro asked. I glanced up from the fire, his cold tone surprising me. I hadn't known Horohoro had a serious side to him. Well, everyone had their own quirks.

"That's because leader said it would be a waste of money," Elly defended, frowning.

"And you care about money when you're freezing to death?" I grumbled, shaking my head. "You're a worse tightwad than _me_."

"Shut up," Sharona said grumpily.

"Guess it can't be helped," Yoh interjected calmly.

I would have snorted. Yep, because there will always be stupid people in the world.

"This must be some kind of fate," he continued. "Let's go together!" He grinned.

My eyebrow twitched dangerously. Was he kidding? If this was fate, then it was a very cruel one. I was already stuck with a bunch of shaman idiot boys, and now I was stuck with five more idiot_ girls_?

I knew I shouldn't have come.

Besides, if I wanted to, I bet I could've found Patch Village ten times faster without any of these stupid dimwits to drag along. If I was alone, then I could just be my evil self and kill anything in the way.

…Okay, so maybe I wasn't_ that_ evil, but let's pretend I was, so that I can make myself feel like an equal to Hao.

"With them?" Horohoro objected, glaring at Yoh.

"They are our enemies," Ren growled fiercely.

How stupid. Of course they were. Everyone in the shaman tournament were enemies. Because in the end, only one person's dream would come true, and the others would all be shattered. It was cruel, and yet as the same time that I found it disgusting, I found it appealing. That was my sadistic side, I guessed.

"If we bunch together, we'll be warm," Yoh reasoned, still calm.

That would have won me over, if not for the fact that I didn't want anyone touching me. I'd rather become an ice cube in the blizzard than huddle together with a bunch of dimwits.

Who knows, stupidity and naiveté just might be contagious.

"Well, if you insist on it, we will go with you," Sharona said, quite arrogantly if I may say so myself.

_I _was certainly not insisting on it, but apparently Yoh was, and Yoh always got his way. There was no point in arguing—the outcome was already clear in my mind.

Suddenly, Lyserg's pendulum shot out, nearly grazing Sharona's arm.

My gaze flickered over to Lyserg, who was glaring sharply outside the cavern, into the midst of the snow storm.

"What's wrong?" Ryu asked.

"This reaction…There's no doubt about it!" he yelled. He shot up from his seat and raced out into the blizzard.

"Lyserg!" Yoh cried, following him.

Quickly, Horohoro, Ren, and Ryu raced out as well, leaving only me and the Pansy Five. I think that was there name, wasn't it?

Well, Yoh and the others could certainly run after the angsty idiot, but I wasn't going back out into the cold until it was absolutely necessary.

I sighed and leant back against the wall, but soon found myself fidgeting. I was getting bored, and when I was bored, I did stupid things. And doing stupid things made me a stupid person, so I was trying to cut back on them. No matter how much fun acting stupidly was, I really did have to start concentrating on more important things like hiding from Hao.

But he didn't actually know me, or who I was, so that would be pretty easy. To him, I was just an ordinary little girl he wanted to kill. Not that him wanting to kill me would make me special, because after all, Hao wanted to kill everybody who wasn't himself.

Crazy guy.

All I would have to do was never use the stupid book he wanted so much. And it was rare that I used it anyway, so I guessed that problem was solved.

As long as he never knew I was in possession of it, I was safe.

But I was bored right now, and just thinking didn't quite cut it. So, I stood up and despite my earlier thoughts, I wandered out of the small haven.

To my surprise, the snow storm was completely gone. Not a single flake danced down from the dark clouds above, and judging from the long brown haired boy with his stupid groupies standing in front of Lyserg, I could guess that it had something to do with Hao's fantastic super powers.

Well, that's just peachy.

At the sight of Hao, I quickly retreated back into the cave. But I guess curiosity really did kill the cat, because I couldn't stop myself from cautiously peeking around the edge.

"Hao!" Lyserg growled, shooting his pendulum out.

I scoffed.

That was wise of him. Because a stupid crystal diamond with pointy edges could _totally_ massacre Hao. Maybe it could give him a haircut (not that he needed one, I mean, I thought he looked hot the way he was), but that was probably all it was good for.

"The blizzard is avoiding them," Yoh observed.

Well, thank you, captain obvious. I think we can all see that.

"Is that possible?" Ryu questioned in disbelief.

Apparently it is, since you're seeing it right now. I rolled my eyes from my safe spot in the cave. What kind of idiots had I agreed to travel with?

"Are you saying that he can even control the weather?" Ren said through gritted teeth.

I pressed myself against the wall of the cave as I heard footsteps coming from behind me. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Sharona, Elly, and Sally rushed past me and emerged from the cave.

When they were past me, I peeked out from my spot again.

"That's Hao?" Sharona asked. She blushed. "Amazing! He's amazing!"

Oh. My. God. Pedophile alert. Pedophile alert.

And why was everyone admiring Hao like he was some sort of statue? When you talk about him he can totally hear you. He's close enough, and I don't think he's hearing-impaired, mind you.

He may be 1,000 years old and in his third life, but I don't think he's getting any stupider with age.

That's too bad, though, I wish he was.

"Looks like you won't make it to the Patch Village if you can't deal with this mountain," one of Hao's groupies commented.

"What?" Ren growled, enraged.

"I think you should turn back now and wait for the blizzard to stop," Hao advised.

"I agree!" I blurted loudly, accidentally sticking my head out of the shadows that hid me.

Heads turned towards me, and I gulped, realizing I probably should have covered my mouth. I have a big mouth, did you know that?

I was about to recoil into the shadows, when I realized that they had already seen me so there was no point. I cautiously stepped out from the cave and scampered over to hide behind Yoh.

Standing in front of Hao made me extremely nervous, even though I knew he didn't know I had the book. But still, I felt like he could see right through me, and I didn't like that one bit.

Which is exactly why I was hiding behind Yoh. If I hid behind his twin he would have to look at the mirror image of himself, and then he could get all egotistical about his appearance. Then he would forget all about me. Besides, I was sure looking at the other half of his soul was far more interesting than looking at some girl.

So basically, I was putting plan SDHWYS Plan into action, which stands for Super Distract Hao With Yoh Shield Plan, if you didn't already know that.

Nevertheless, Hao continued in his evil plan like I wasn't there. Good, if he pretended I wasn't there, I could pretend I wasn't there too. And then he could just forget I ever said anything.

Yep, that sounded just fine to me.

"You really should turn back, since you guys probably won't survive what I'm about to do," Hao said, smirking smugly.

I had a pretty cool comeback for that statement of his, but I didn't feel like dying, nor did I want to remind him of my presence, so, unlike last time, I kept my mouth shut.

You see, I wanted to tell him that there really was no need to add that 'probably' to his statement, because if you ask me, he could kill all of us on the spot right now, no questions asked. And there was also no need to tell us to run away, because he probably wasn't going to give us enough time to get far enough away, seeing as he said "what I'm about to do".

_See_, I _told _you. When I am bored, I act stupid. I think that's where I got the idea of how my façade acts.

"What are you going to do?" Yoh asked. So far, Yoh was being a very good shield. I will have to remember that for later uses.

A groupie that was totally copying Ryu's Dracula hair style started to explain. "Hao-sama is going to use the great power of nature to wipe out fake Shamans who fear the great Mother Nature by…"

Hao cut him off. "I need you to become stronger. I don't want to kill you right now."

I breathed a sigh of relief. That was good. I didn't want to die yet. And for a moment, when the Dracula dude mentioned 'fake shamans' I was a little concerned about whether I qualified for that or not. I mean, of course I feared Mother Nature (I wasn't stupid, but apparently being fearful of something very, very powerful made me a 'fake'), but the real reason I was scared was because I thought he meant, like, fake, as in _personality_ fake. And if I didn't count as that then no one did.

But if he didn't want to kill Yoh right now, then I guessed he wasn't in one of his crazy, serial killer moods. And if he was being reasonable, I figured he could let me live too. Well, maybe not, but if he turned on me with his gigantor Lego spirit I would totally use Yoh as both my shield and hostage.

Just as Hao turned to leave, Lyserg decided to be a suicidal idiot.

"Don't ignore me, Hao!" he yelled, shooting his pendulum out.

Hao turned, smirking evilly. He extended his hand and the pendulum fell to the ground, without even touching Hao.

Lyserg was shocked.

Why, I did not know. Was it really such a surprise? And since when were pendulums considered efficient weapons?

Seriously, I think a _pencil_ could work better.

Lyserg was blown back by a sudden gust of the blizzard, and soon the blizzard was raging all around us again.

I clung onto the back of Yoh's jacket after nearly getting blown away. I didn't want to become the next Dorothy in the Land of Oz, no really, I didn't.

"Wait for us, Hao-sama!" Sharona called, quite stupidly if you ask me. I guess Pedophile love is blind too. I mean, you have got to be blind not to see how evil Hao and his minions are.

Well, maybe not Opacho, but Opacho's got that afro, and you know what they say about afros. Afros are _evil._

"Please take us with you!" Elly yelled.

I contemplated on grabbing that big, pointy icicle hanging from the wall beside me and stabbing the three cretins in the back, but they had already moved. What a shame.

Elly, Sharona, and Sally ran through the blizzard after Hao's group.

And then they were gone. Lost in the midst of the raging blizzard.

Wonderful. Two birds killed with one stone. Hao was gone, and so were three of the annoying girls.

Good riddance.

* * *

We were back inside the cave again, this time without the three most annoying of the Petunia Five. I'm not even going to bother to wonder if that's their real name anymore, since now they were reduced to two--Lily, and Milly.

Lyserg was lying on the ground, groaning in pain. That was something I did not understand. Why was he in so much pain when all he did was fall to the ground from a gust of wind? It wasn't like he was giving birth or anything.

"You aren't going with them?" Horohoro asked the two girls.

Milly's gaze dropped to the ground. "I…"

I almost rolled my eyes. How informative.

My gaze traveled down to Lyserg as he grunted and cracked an eye open. Aw darn it, I was hoping he died.

"Lyserg-sama!" Milly cried as he struggled to sit up.

"You should lie down, Lyserg," Yoh said, concerned.

Lyserg ignored him. Like I said, he was very good at following directions. Not.

"Can we defeat Hao like this?" Lyserg asked, his voice dripping of grief.

I stared dully at him. "No," I said, because that was the most obvious answer.

Lyserg looked down.

"What are you scared about?" Ren asked, smirking.

Absolutely nothing, aside from the fact that he was 1000 years old, a crazy pyromaniac murderer, could control all the elements and was positively the strongest shaman in the world. Yeah, because there's nothing invincible sounding about that.

But rants were for my head and were not meant to be spoken. Remember, I had to act like the Keiko they knew.

So I just pouted.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" Lyserg asked. "The snow didn't even worry Hao. On top of that, it was as if the blizzard feared Hao and opened a path for him. Hao made the snow obey him."

I decided it was time for a stupid Keiko remark. "If it makes you feel better, I can make a dog obey me," I offered, grinning widely.

Lyserg ignored me and continued in his grief speech of doom. "Even nature is on his side."

I pouted, annoyed at being ignored. Why did everyone ignore me? Hao did it, Ryu did it, Lyserg did it…Everyone did it! What did I do to them?

Seriously, even the_ wall_ ignored me. Once, I was walking down a hall in Yoh's house, and the wall was like, totally in my way. So, I told it to move, but it didn't even respond. It just, like, stood there. I even waited, but it didn't move. I got so mad that I kicked the rude wall, but then it retaliated and it hurt my foot. Yeah, it was totally the wall's fault that it was so hard I couldn't walk for, like, a whole week. Not my fault at all.

"Enough!" Horohoro yelled, breaking me out of my thoughts. "There's no way in hell nature would side with someone like him!"

I wondered if having the Spirit of Fire as his right hand Lego man counted against what he just said, but decided against it. They didn't know anything about Hao, so why should I be the one to tell them?

Horohoro continued. "There must be some kind of trick—

"Horohoro-kun controls snow," Lyserg began, cutting off Horohoro. "But you can't stop the blizzard."

What an angsty bastard.

"I know that Hao is amazing, but…" Yoh trailed off, not sure what to say.

"If Hao can even control the weather. We will be fighting nature itself," Lyserg said, continuing as if no one had ever said anything.

Hey, I feel better now. It seems to me like Lyserg just likes to ignore people so he can continue on his angsty way.

"Cut the crap!" Horohoro yelled, standing up.

"That's a baaaaad potty mouth," I muttered to myself, not boding well with the seriousness of the situation.

I hated serious situations. People seriously needed to lighten up a bit.

"There is no one that can control nature!" Horohoro continued, glaring.

I felt the need to add my own two cents in but decided not to. Besides, I didn't feel like being the one to break the uncomfortable silence Horohoro's comment seemed to have put everyone in.

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End of Chapter 8.

Please Review.

Reviews make me very, very happy. I really want to know what you guys think about this story, and when I say that I don't mean I want strictly praises nor ten billion flames.

Also, I was wondering who you guys think Keiko should end up with. Tell me what you guys think about pairings.

If anyone has any ideas they would like to share about future chapters, I would be happy to hear them. Though I will not necessarily use them, I will take them into consideration, especially when I get stuck.

-Cookie Krisp


	9. Rivers and Old People

**Author's Note:** Hey people. Here is Chapter 9. Please Read and Review. You guys seem to like Ren a lot. Well, that's great, 'cause I think he's adorable too.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.**

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**Chapter 9:**

I closed my eyes as I lay on the ground, listening to the sound of the fire crackling in the silence. I heard the clink of the wood as Milly tended to the fire, still watching over the brooding Lyserg despite the late hour.

I didn't know what she saw in him.

I slept in the far corner of the cave. I had wanted to stay by the fire, as the cave was almost as cold as outside, and my jacket was still no help, but I had never been comfortable sleeping in the same room as another. So, I stayed as far away from Yoh, Horohoro, Ren, and Ryu as possible.

Lyserg and Milly were still awake. I wasn't sure what time it was, but I guessed it was pretty late out by now. The blizzard was still raging outside, just as ferocious at it had been earlier in the day. I wondered when it would calm down.

I shifted onto my side, pressing my ear against the ground. I could hear the faint sound of the howling wind from outside. I hoped we wouldn't be snowed in when morning arrived.

And even if we weren't trapped, the mountains would be icy. It would be hard to travel with the bad weather conditions and the burden of the encounter with Hao weighing down on my travel companions shoulders. I could tell that Hao had unnerved not only Lyserg, but all of them, even Yoh. I could tell he was troubled.

I would have been bothered too, if not for the fact that I knew all about Hao. To Yoh, Hao was just a mysterious shaman who was very powerful and threatening. If I were Yoh, I would be worried that Hao was stalking me. I would probably even wonder about Hao's sexuality.

Who knew, he could have been an obsessive gay stalking me. With the amount of interest Hao puts in Yoh, if I hadn't known better, I would have thought he was in _love_ with him.

But I knew better, so I didn't.

Sighing, I wondered when the blizzard would clear up. The heavy loads of snow were not good for my shaman abilities, especially since I counted on the plants to be there. Keru's power was to control plants, but he couldn't control dead plants.

Useless jerk.

I heard Lyserg and Milly talking quietly, but my back was turned, so I could only listen. I heard Ryu join in later. Great, with his loud voice talking the others were probably all awake now too.

Insomniacs.

Listening to their muffled voices, I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the wall in front of me. As the conversation droned on, Ryu began to tell some sort of tale. I felt my eyelids beginning to droop. I needed to get some rest.

I closed my eyes and relaxed, allowing the sound of Ryu's voice to lull me to sleep. It was almost like back then—back then when Daddy would always tell me a story before I went to bed.

_Daddy…I miss you._

_

* * *

_

The next day I woke to Yoh shaking my shoulder.

Rubbing my eyes tiredly, I sat up, groaning.

"What?" I asked groggily.

Yoh grinned at my sleepy state. "The blizzard's cleared up. We can go out now."

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and stood, walking out of the cave.

A bright light flooded my vision, and I had to cover my eyes with an arm. Slowly, I lowered my arm, and was met with the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. The ground was covered in a fresh coat of snow that sparkled in the sunlight. The snow was untouched, not a speck of dirt to disrupt the pure white landscape.

The river running through the path was completely frozen over. It was as clear as glass, glinting in the sun's rays. The beautiful whiteness of the snow was reflected onto the mirror-like river.

The two mountain sides were iced over, almost like a glacier. They too sparkled in the sunlight. Atop them, a forest of snow-covered pine trees grew.

It was gorgeous. A winter wonderland.

"Wow," I breathed in awe. "It's pretty."

Ren's lips curled up in an expression half way between a smirk and a smile. You never know with that guy. "It is. Where I come from, we have--"

"Yeah, yeah," I groaned, waving my hand in front of my face. I was not in the mood to deal with Mr. Arrogant today, at least, not so early in the morning. "We already know. You have thirty-three places just like this in your mommy's stomach. Glad to know you appreciate where you come from that much."

Ren glowered at me, but I just smiled innocently. Funny, I could've sworn I saw a slight pink tinge in his cheeks. Aw…look at little Ren, blushing at the mention of coming from his mommy's tummy. So cute. Not.

"It will be a piece of cake if we follow the frozen river," Horohoro said.

"Yum, cake," I said, already imagining the sweet deliciousness. But wait, I wished I had pie. Pie was ten times better. Cake could never compare. Hey, it wasn't not my fault I didn't get any breakfast today.

I ignored the weird stares I received from the two annoying girls—Milly and Lily, I think. Luckily for Yoh and the others, they were already used to the times when I would randomly blurt something, so they didn't stare. Believe it or not, my random comments were probably the only thing they heard coming from the actual me, and not the fake me. The real me could be just as random as the fake me. That's the only reason I was able to act the part.

But food just made me more random. Especially pie. Yes, pie. My beloved.

"Well then, let's go," Yoh said, grinning widely.

I began to walk, smiling as I felt the snow beneath my feet. This should have been a scene in a painting, or in a photographer magazine. I couldn't believe it was real.

"Wait," Lily said suddenly.

I halted, pivoting around to face her. She had a pair of binoculars over her eyes as she looked into the distance.

"What?" I asked, feeling oddly talkative today. I guessed I was just getting used to traveling with other people. I was usually alone, so I guessed that was how I ended up not speaking my thoughts very often. But that was probably a good thing, because I happened to have a very big mouth.

"I see something," Lily said.

"Do you see a bug?" I panicked, rambling. My mouth was moving so quickly I didn't even allow her to answer. "Oh my god, a bug! You see a bug! Someone kill it before it takes over the world!"

"Shut up, you idiot," Ren interrupted. I glared at him. "Let her talk."

We all glanced over at Lily, waiting for her to elaborate.

"No, not a bug," Lily replied calmly.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. I hated bugs with a passion. They were evil creatures, you know. More so than Hao. Speaking of which, with the way people were so afraid of bugs, I bet Hao could just kill them off by sending out a squad of demon ants. Heck, he could kill me with that too.

Oops, that would be bad. I hoped he wouldn't do that.

"Wait, then what do you see?" I asked curiously. "A pie?"

This time she didn't answer. Instead, she showed us, projecting the screen in front of us.

Okay, so Hao was going to melt the river…Dude, that's like, so mean. The river was very pretty when it was frozen, Killing off weak shamans was totally not a good enough reason to disrupt my winter wonderland.

Well, what did I expect from the evil, villain dude?

"At this rate, everyone will be engulfed by the flood!" Horohoro cried angrily.

"Does anyone have a camera?" I asked, feeling depressed that Hao was going to ruin the scenery.

"Why a camera?" Milly asked skeptically.

Everyone else ignored me, aleady running off to do their own thing. Wow, I felt so loved.

I looked down at Milly. "So I can take a picture?" I said. "Why else would I want a camera? To throw it at people's heads?"

She shrugged.

"Damn it!" Ryu swore, pushing past us to dash ahead. "We have to tell everyone that this river will overflow!"

"You won't make it," Milly said hopelessly.

"No duh," I added. Maybe if I talked more people would stop ignoring me so much. I certainly hoped so.

Yoh ran after him. "But I can't just sit here and do nothing."

Ren and Horohoro quickly followed, leaving me with Lyserg and Milly, the oh-so-perfect couple. I should play matchmaker with them, but not right now. We were currently had a dilemma to deal with.

I frowned. "But you weren't sitting!" I yelled after Yoh. Under my breath I muttered, "and there's nothing wrong with not doing anything."

But they didn't hear me.

I sighed, shook my head and ran after them. Remind me why I was doing this.

Oh yeah, because I was preserving the beauty of the lake…not. There was no way to stop Hao, and I wasn't going to waste my time trying. I was merely going along with it, because I was bored.

I was always bored.

Quickly, I caught up and ran beside Yoh.

"Everyone!" he yelled loudly. "The river is going to overflow!"

Suddenly, the sound of rushing water reached my ears.

"It's coming," Yoh whispered

I stopped running and stared into the distance at the enormous wave towering over us.

"Aw man," I groaned. "I can't swim." I turned to Yoh, who was glaring at the wave like it would spontaneously combust. "Yoh, save me!" I screamed, diving behind him as the wave grew closer and closer. Yes, this was the result of Yoh showing me how great of a shield he was from Hao. I figured that if he could shield me from Hao he could shield me from Hao's wave.

"Amidamaru!" Yoh yelled. "Maximum Oversoul!"

I peered over his shoulder, unwilling to take my eyes away from the large wave that was sure to come crashing down and flood the mountain path any moment now. I didn't know there were sizes of oversouls. I thought it was always just plain old oversoul, always the same every time. But now wasn't the time to think about that.

Amidamaru emerged from Yoh's sword and stood in front of the wave, successfully blocking the water from escaping. How that was possible, I did not know. I was just happy that I wasn't going to drown.

"Yay!" I exclaimed. "I _knew _you were a good shield!"

"This is…really heavy," Yoh grunted under the pressure of the wave.

Or not. And just when I thought I was going to get out of this without using my oversoul. I hadn't been planning on using it until the tournament, as I never liked to reveal my powers unless necessary, but I couldn't die right here and now. Not yet.

"Noooooo!" I wailed. "I don't want to die yet! I'm not old enough to get my driver's license!"

"Master!" Ryu yelled. "Please move aside."

"What?" I screeched. "Are you trying to get me killed? He's my shield; he's _supposed_ to stand in front of me."

Yoh grinned and withdrew his oversoul, stepping to the side. "Alright. I'm counting on you, Ryu!"

"Hey!" I protested.

"Come on," Yoh said, pulling me behind Ryu with him.

"This is the Ame no Mura Kumo that embodies the Yamata Orochi!" Ryu cried, drawing his wooden sword back and unleashing his attack.

I watched with interest as many heads of a white dragon emerged from his sword and dove into the wave.

"That's wonderful, Ryu, but how is that going to stop the water? I don't think they make a very good wall!" I yelled over the noise of the water.

As if to prove my point, water began to gush through the gaps between the dragons. I frowned, my hand hovering over the pocket where I kept my medium, the bamboo stick.

Well, if worse came to worse, then…

"Leave it to me!" Horohoro suddenly yelled, raising his snowboard above his head and thrusting a breeze of freezing air and encased the wave in ice.

"Whoa! That's awfully cold," I shivered, rubbing my arms.

Ren sprung into the air with his spear in his hand, flawlessly slicing the frozen wave into pieces.

The wave crumbled, the ice falling in thick blocks to the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief. Well, that was over now.

I heard a familiar-sounding, girly cry and glanced up, only to find Sharona, Elly, and Sally caught by a net formed by the oh-so-angsty Lyserg.

Oh come on. I didn't want them back. I'd thought we'd gotten rid of them.

"Oh look!" I exclaimed, maliciousness seeping into my smile and curling it into an aggravated smirk. "Lyserg caught the bugs in his bug net!"

The stupid women shrieked in anger. "How insulting!"

"You're face is insulting," I retorted calmly.

I smiled sweetly, allowing my mean streak to show through my façade. Being mean to people was too fun. How could I resist it?

"Ugh!" Sharona growled.

I ignored her this time. I was spending too much time talking to dimwits. I didn't want them to pass their dumbness on to me, now did I?

"Lyserg!" Ryu cried in surprise.

Lyserg allowed a small smile to reach his mouth. "I want to have one, too. An unwavering strong belief."

I scoffed. How cheesy did these people get?

Horohoro smirked. "_He's_ the only guy you shouldn't look up too." He motioned to Ryu. "Because your hairstyle will become weird."

"It's already weird!" I said. "I mean, it's green, it defies gravity, it has spikes…How much weirder can a hairstyle get?" I frowned and tilted my head to side in thought. "Well, actually, Ren's hairstyle is really,much weirder…"

Ren growled, his spike growing a few inches. "What did you say?"

I smirked, an impish glint in my eyes. "I said your hairstyle is really much weirder. See, look, it's growing right now."

"I dare you to repeat that again," he challenged.

"Your hairs---

"Hey, hey, no need to fight right now," Yoh interjected, grinning easily.

I glared at him.

Arguments were fun to get into. It was fun to see how annoyed you could get people.

Yoh chuckled and patted me on the head, affectionately ruffling my hair.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, my face a mix between a frown and a pout.

I slapped his hand away, but I wasn't really mad. He was allowed to touch my hair. Besides, he had been doing that since the time Mikihisa brought me to their doorstep.

Yoh grinned amiably and gestured towards the Daisy Five. I turned away from the angry Ren and looked at them.

Sharona, Elly, and Milly were hugging, and behind them, several people were standing. I guessed they were shamans. That, or they were really unlucky travelers.

"Whoa! What is this, group hug time?" I asked, feeling slightly annoyed from all the happy waves emitting off of them.

"Thank goodness," Yoh said, chuckling. "I guess it did work out somehow in the end."

A small smile curled the corners of my lips up.

_Oh Yoh…always so carefree…_

I shot a glance towards the top of a mountain that loomed over us. And there, at the edge of the cliff was Hao, standing with his groupies (I refused to call them minions). They really failed at being inconspicuous. I had known they were there for the whole time. I had just wanted to find out if anyone else would notice them. But apparently not, though I had trouble figuring out how someone could miss that super sparkly, giant, red Lego monster that was Hao's Spirit of Fire.

I shook my head, my smile conforming into a smirk.

Yoh and the others were so ignorant.

* * *

"Hey Ryu, why don't you just give up?" Horohoro asked, frowning at Ryu.

It had been two days since the incident with Hao. Yesterday, we had ran after some cowboy dude who stole Milly's Oracle Bell, only to have Silva just give her a new one. If that wasn't pointless I didn't know what was. And now, here we were, waiting at the roadside for Billy, Ryu's hitchhiking buddy, to arrive.

We had been waiting for almost two hours, and still no sign of him, or anyone else. The road was completely isolated, not one car passing by.

I sighed. "He's not going to come."

"Shut up!" Ryu yelled stubbornly. "The friendship between us isn't that shallow. Right, Billy?"

I shook my head at his antics. "Dramatic freak," I muttered.

I had to admit, over the last few days I had become increasingly more talkative. It was sort of a dangerous thing, seeing as I tended to have a lot of slip-ups. But I also found that I kind of liked it, you know, to say what I thought out loud.

But there were problems with that. I felt like each day, I was letting a little of the real me become one with my façade. It was probably because I was becoming so comfortable with Yoh and the others. That wasn't good. I couldn't have them knowing who I really was.

Yoh yawned and said something I didn't quite catch, because I was watching the two tiny balls of light flittering around in the trees behind us.

Spirits?

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously as they disappeared into the dark of the forest. Why were they here? Did they want something?

* * *

We trudged down the desolated street in the dark. The light from the moon was barely enough to see, and there were no street lights to guide us.

"There must be a reason why Billy couldn't come," Ryu sulked, his shoulders slumped in defeat. He had used his oversoul until he ran out of furyoku, not really a wise decision in the case of an encounter with another shaman.

"A reason, eh?" Horohoro sighed.

"Maybe he stopped at a town to participate in a pie eating contest and got food poisoning?" I offered.

"Billy," Ryu groaned again.

"Ryu?" I asked, my interest suddenly piquing.

"What?" he moaned in despair.

"Are you gay?"

Ryu froze, his head snapped up. His jaw dropped. "No!"

I didn't notice everyone had stopped walking until I bumped into someone.

And that someone happened to have a purple spike on his head.

"Ow!" I cried, stepping back and massaging my sore nose. "What was that for?"

Ren sighed. "For being an idiot."

I frowned. "How am I being an idiot?"

"You _are _an idiot."

I huffed, slightly miffed. "Well, so are you."

He just glared at me, sealing the end of the argument.

I sighed and turned back to Ryu feeling slightly befuddled. I didn't get it. How come Ren and Horohoro could bite each other's heads off for hours, but no one seemed to like to carry out an argument so long with me?

"Well, then. There doesn't seem to be a town around here...I guess we are camping tonight," Yoh said.

I tilted my head up to look at the sky above us. Stars twinkled brightly in the clear night sky that stretched on for miles. It was beautiful. No tall buildings or street lights to obscure the dazzling view. I was almost overwhelmed by how simply gorgeous the sight was when untouched by human civilization.

Humans…They were so lucky. _They _weren't born into the fate of being immoral and vile like I was.

"Sleeping under the stars…" Ren began, his trademark smirk growing on his face. "I like it."

"I hope the bugs don't bite me," I grumbled, wondering how many bug bites a person could get in one night.

"The stars will show us the way," Horohoro said.

Lyserg sighed, his gaze cast downwards. "You guys are as easygoing as always."

"And you are as angsty as always," I mumbled under my breath so no one would hear me. Damn him, he ruined the mood.

"Well, that's what's good about this group," Ryu said, winking.

Suddenly, a pair of bright lights flashed in the distance, steadily coming closer and closer.

"Headlights?" I asked, squinting into the lights. "A car?"

"Billy!" Ryu cried as he dashed towards the car.

The car pulled to an abrupt stop, the tires screeching against the pavement. I cringed at the loud sound.

Slowly, I approached the car, strolling over to where Ryu stood, leaning into the window. Was it just me or did Billy's red truck look different?

I squinted at the car, only now realizing that it _was_ different. It was gray; at least, I thought it was. But I couldn't be sure, after all, it was hard to see in the dark. Or maybe Billy had gotten a new car. Who knew.

I peered around Ryu's shoulder, peeking into the open car window.

"What are you all doing out here?" an old man asked.

I sighed loudly as Ryu yelped in surprise. What was I thinking? Of _course_ it wasn't Billy.

I glanced at the old man, and the old woman seated next to him. Appearances could be deceiving, but they did look like kind people.

Suddenly, the old couple seemed to blur. I squinted and rubbed my eyes. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me—no. I smirked impishly. My eyes were not tricking me. These were not real people. They were spirits—Holy Spirits. The same ones I'd seen from before, dancing around in the trees.

Well, whatever. Humans were far more annoying, not to mention dangerous anyway. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to annoy Lyserg with a little side trip to entertain these spirits, now would it?

"Hey…do you think we could catch a ride with you?" I asked, smiling widely.

* * *

The old man laughed loudly. "I see, I see."

We had just finished telling our tale of how Ryu had mistaken him for Billy. The old man had kindly accepted to drive us to their home, which was apparently in some nearby town. So, we were seated in the back of the car, all squished together because there happened to be one less seat than person.

How fun…not.

"It's hard to get a ride around here," the old lady said, smiling at us in the rearview mirror.

I frowned, my mouth turned down in a grimace. I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat, which was actually only half of a seat. Like I said, there weren't enough seats and guess what? I got stuck sharing a seat with Ren.

I scooted so far to the side I was pressed up against the window, and yet I was still somewhat sitting on top of Ren. My leg was on lying on top of his, something I did not liked. This uncomfortable position was forcing me to touch him more than I ever would have liked.

One person seats were not meant for two people. And if I had to share a seat with someone, why couldn't it be Yoh?

"We are far out into the countryside, so there aren't a lot of travelers," the old lady said.

"Um, yeah," I said, still squirming. "Thanks."

The old man laughed heartily. "No problem."

"Well, whatever the situation is, you really saved us," Ryu added.

"Really, it's no problem. It's been a while since we welcomed guests. We're happy too," the old woman said, turning around to look at us.

Eventually, I gave up on detaching myself from Ren and resigned to the unnerving position. The hair on my arms and legs stood at the feel of his close proximity. The warmth that radiated off of him was not at all comforting. After all, the last time someone had been that close to me was to stick a needle in me.

I felt Ren shift beside me, his black coat rubbing against my arm. Instinctively, I yanked my arm away from him. The movement was so fast and abrupt, it surprised even me. My arm flew back, the back of my hand hitting the window behind me . My eyes were wide like a frightened puppy's as the sound of my knuckle hitting the glass reverberated through the car. The car was instantly set into an uncomfortable silence.

Heads turned towards me, both curious and concerned gazes directed at me.

I gulped as I cradled my injured hand. Okay, that was totally not supposed to happen.

"Keiko?" Yoh asked, frowning. "You've been acting a little strange…Are you alright?"

Nodding, I allowed my panicked eyes to drop to my hand. "Yes," I murmured. I winced as I rubbed my red knuckles.

Yoh's gaze followed mine, down to the hand I was gently caressing. "Does it hurt?"

"No," I said, rolling my eyes sarcastically. "I just felt like giving it a nice, relaxing massage."

Yoh grinned, chuckling as he rubbed the back to his head. I didn't get it. How could he do that without messing up his hair? That would probably make my hair stick up like I'd been frantically rubbing a helium filled balloon over my head so it would be static induced.

But then again, that didn't sound so bad. I could use that electricity to shock my enemies. And by enemies I did not mean Hao, I meant Ren. If I shocked him, maybe the static would zap his brain into a coma. Then we could all forget about that stunt I just pulled a couple seconds ago, and get all angsty like Lyserg over Ren. That sounds just jolly.

Yum..Jolly Ranchers.

"Need some ice?" Horohoro offered.

"Yes," I replied, maybe a little too quickly.

I watched absent-mindedly as Horohoro used Kororo to create ice. That was kind of cool. I should discard Keru for one of those things if I come across one.

"Here," Horohoro said, placing the cool piece of ice in my hand.

I smiled gratefully and immediately moved the ice onto my aching knuckles. The coolness almost instantly soothed the pain in my hand, turning the sharp pains into a dull, throbbing one. I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning my forehead against the window.

The car bounced every time we hit a bump, which was quite frequently, and every time we did, my head would bang against the window. But I didn't really care, because I was really, _really_ tired right now (yep, pain seemed to do that to me) and I needed something to rest my head on. And since I totally was not going to rest anywhere on Ren, or even_ near_ Ren, that left only the hard, headache-inducing window.

But it wouldn't be for long. Soon, we would be at the old couple's place, wherever that was. Then I could sleep in a real bed.

…Ah…a real bed.

I sighed heavily as my head once again collided with the glass window. The car went over a series of gaping pot holes, all of which caused my head to bash into the window.

"Ow," I hissed, abandoning my knuckles to rub my aching forehead. That was sure to leave a bruise.

But still, I refused to remove my forehead from its resting position against the window. Call me crazy or a sadist or whatever, but I was determined to deal with it until we arrived at the old people's home. It would keep me awake for the whole drive, so I could call dibs on the best bed when we got there.

Oh my god. I felt like_ such_ a hobo. I was traveling across America with nothing but the clothes on me, a bunch of stuff in my pocket, and a wallet that had become lost in the midst of my vast pocket. I swear, that pocket of mine must have been either a black hole, or an entrance to another dimension called Keiko's-storage-world, composed of everything I had stuffed into that pocket and nothing else.

Or maybe I was just secretly Mary Poppins. Yeah, that would work, if only I carried around an umbrella, had a mirror that was alive, danced with said umbrella in the rain, and did not see spirits.

Yes…if only. If only life was so peachy.

…Okay, maybe not. I liked that expression, you know, because peaches are food and all, and I liked food and…yeah, but peaches are pink and I hated pink. And if life was peachy then it would have to be filled with horrid pink blobs of…pink that would choke and strangle us all and then throw us in evil places of doom and….

What I meant to say was, basically, that would be very bad.

I felt Ren shift in his seat, crossing his leg across his other. My eyes snapped open as the leather cloth of his coat brushed against my leg. I hastily shrunk against the window, pressing myself against the side of the car.

Ren stopped moving. Curious, my gaze slowly rose to his face.

He was staring at me. His cold, golden eyes seemed to pierce through my facade and down to my soul, threatening to expose all of my secrets to the world. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously, as if accusing me of something.

It was only then, as Ren pinned me with his cold gaze, that I realized that throughout the whole time Yoh, Horohoro, and I had talked, Ren hadn't said a word.

* * *

End of Chapter 9.

Please review. Come on, it will even make me happy if you just type one word like "Yay." or "Great." or even "Boring."

Anyone got any ideas or pairings they prefer?

Click the green button. You know you want to.

-Cookie Krisp


	10. Ren's Suspicions

**Author's Note: **Okay, here is chapter 10. Hope you guys enjoy it! And sorry if you think Ren's a bit OOC. I tried my best so yeah, deal with it. Also, there may be some errors in this one because I had to sneak on the computer to upload it. Yeah, I told my mom I was sick and had a killer headache, so she didn't want me on the computer. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.**

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* * *

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**Chapter 10:**

"Thank you for the meal!" everyone except me chorused.

Yes, I ate. Yes, I was thankful.

No, I could not do unison.

Boo.

"Thank you for the meal," I said, even though everyone else already had. Hey, I was just being polite.

"I ate a lot," Horohoro said, patting his enlarged stomach.

"Wow," I breathed, staring at his round, balloon-shaped stomach in a mixture awe and mild disgust. "Are—are you pregnant?"

Horohoro jolted, immediately sitting straight up in his chair. He shook his head vigorously, his blue hair splaying out in all directions. "No, no, no , no, no, no, no!" he cried. "Where did you get that idea from? And I'm a man! How could I get pregnant?"

"Well," I began, "first, you and Ren were always fighting like an old married couple and you know what they say about that. Second, you're always hungry so I kinda thought maybe you had another baby to feed. And third, your stomach is really round right now so I just assumed you had a baby in there. And who knows? You could be a transsexual." I shrugged.

Horohoro flushed bright red. "Him?" he yelled, jumped out of his chair to jab a finger at Ren. "You thought I was pregnant with _his _child?" He shuddered. "That's disgusting!"

He turned to me. "And I'm not a trans."

"Oh," I said, my face falling in disappointment.

Well, that was a bit devastating. I thought maybe we could get some soap opera drama in here to liven it up a bit. We could have a love triangle with Ren, Horohoro, and Yoh. Ren and Yoh could secretly be in love, but Yoh was already engaged to the fair maiden Anna.

Ren, the cold, callous school girl just waiting to meet her sweetheart (who would be Yoh) that could warm her frigid heart up, could be stuck in a marriage with the transsexual, hot playboy Horohoro, because of an unexpected pregnancy.

Lyserg could be the sweet girl that works in the flower shop that secretly has this big crush on the evil, corrupt business man, Hao, who was on his way to becoming the next Bill Gates, as well as President.

Oh, and by the way, Ryu doesn't get a part in this because he's just not cool enough.

Oh…the joys of soap operas. You know, once Anna forgives me for leaving (I'm pretty sure she's a bit pissed at me for just taking off), we really should watch some soap operas together. I totally miss movie nights with her, when she'd make Yoh cry and he'd come running to me, and then Anna would bribe me with popcorn and pie to help her torture him. Of course, I would always give in to that lovely scent of pie, and Yoh would be forced to run around all night on errands for Anna and me, while we lazed around on the couch, watching soap operas.

But I guessed I deserved being desperate for some soap opera action, seeing as_ I_ was the one who left the Asakura household one day. But I had my reasons, whether they were good ones or not, so I hoped that justified it.

Well, at least Yoh wasn't mad at me. But Yoh was never mad at anyone, unless they killed, hurt, or did something really bad to someone. And I didn't do anything bad like that.

…Okay, so maybe I _did _do some really bad things—a lot of them, in fact, but I say the people I did it to deserved it. Minus, of course, the people I pick-pocketed. But Brother totally had that one coming, so I say no one has a right to be mad at me for that one.

Besides, Yoh didn't know I even did any of that, seeing as I was little-miss-perfect during my stay at his, and I was really trying hard to preserve that image now. And so, the dark side of me would just have to stay hidden for a bit longer. Okay, so maybe _a lot_ longer, seeing as I planned on never ruining my façade.

But what could I say? My façade was my game, my entertainment, my life. I had nothing without it. It wasn't the real me that had everything. It was my façade. My façade had friends like Yoh and Anna, but I didn't. I had none of that.

When they saw the real me, they'd never want to talk to me again. See, that's exactly what good friends are for. Abandoning you just right when you start to trust them.

Not that I was ever going to trust them. Trust was for weaklings, for the ignorant, for Yoh and everyone else. It wasn't for me.

I'd learned my lesson long ago. I'd trusted Mom and Brother and you should have seen where _that_ got me.

But I wasn't that foolish anymore.

"Yoh," I whined, pouting.

He looked at me curiously. "Hm?"

I sniffled. "I miss Anna!"

"I don't," he groaned, probably remembering some bad incidents involving Anna.

I sighed. Yoh may have seemed as though he didn't like having Anna around, and while I had to admit sometimes she became a little overbearing, I knew Yoh loved her just the way she was.

Love.

What a stupid emotion. It was merely lust in disguise. Marriages were doomed, happy couples never staying happy for very long. People got bored of each other. Love never lasted. It was a fact of life.

_I _would know. Mom got bored of Dad. She left us all behind because she didn't care about Daddy anymore and the money was tight. She said she was going to the city to get rich and marry a wealthy man. She said she was leaving this life of hers behind and that she was moving on.

Yeah, and I thought Mom would always be there for me. Yeah right, in my dreams. Mom left me and Dad and Brother behind, because she didn't need us anymore. We weren't good enough for her.

But Daddy would always deny it. He would always tell me and Brother how great we were. He would say Mom wasn't a bad person, it was just that she didn't like our living conditions. He was the only person I could ever count on.

But he wasn't here anymore.

"Please make yourselves at home," the old lady said, smiling kindly. I was shaken out of my memories, back to the present. "Let's all enjoy ourselves. And if you want you can stay here for a while."

The old man nodded. "Don't be shy. Stay here as long as you like."

I smiled. That sounded like a good idea to me. A real bed, a bath, ah….heaven. "We'd love to--

"No, we need to hurry so…" Lyserg trailed off meaningfully.

I glared fiercely at him. Well, there went my fantasy.

"Why won't you stay?" the old lady said, her gaze drooping to the table. "Isn't it okay to stay for at least a couple days?"

I slapped my palm to my face. "Oh no," I groaned, "more angsty people. We already have enough as it is." I shot a meaningful glance at Lyserg.

He didn't hear me. As always.

"Or is it boring to keep old people company?" the old man added, looking crest-fallen.

"Yes," I said bluntly. "It is."

Everyone looked at me, some reprimanding for my rudeness and others merely amused.

"What?" I asked defensively. "I'm just telling the truth."

They kept staring.

I pouted. "Okay, okay, I get it already! I'm sorry." I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms against my chest. "_God_," I muttered under my breath.

"Um," Lyserg mumbled. "I didn't mean it that way, but we really _are _in a hurry."

The old lady sighed as the old men stood up saying, "Well then, guess we'll go to sleep now. Your rooms are ready, so please rest and recover from the fatigue of your traveling. Good night." They walked out of the room with solemn expressions on their faces, quietly closing the door behind them.

I stared after them, wondering how Lyserg always managed to attract the angsty side of people like a magnet. I knew we shouldn't have let him join the group.

But I guess I couldn't really complain, seeing as I wasn't even there when Yoh admitted him to the group. I think I was taking a shower. Oh yeah, I was getting all that coffee off. It's just like how people are always saying not to complain about the President if you didn't even vote. Not that Lyserg was the President or anything. If anything, Yoh was the President. After all, he _was_ the leader.

"They looked sad," Horohoro commented. His gaze was locked on the closed door they had disappeared behind.

I shrugged. "Isn't that better than them being all slap-happy? Slap-happy old people scare the bananas out of me."

The room fell into a silence as they all just stared at the door, ignoring my statement. God, what is _with _people and ignoring me?

I pouted, knitting my eyebrows together. "You guys are mean."

No one answered me.

I sighed. Seriously, the door was not more interesting than me. I mean, I could understand how they'd rather look at something brown than something with bright pink hair, but I talked, and the door didn't. Wait, that just made me more annoying, didn't it? But I swear, I am better than that door.

…No really. I am.

As we all filed out the door to the guest room, I made sure to kick the door. Hard. Only the door was apparently very vicious, because it was very quick to retaliate. It banged into the wall and then swung back, ten times harder than how I kicked it.

But it all happened too fast, and I was too busy thinking about how I'd shown the door who was boss to step out of the way anyway. So, the door hit me and let me tell you, I never tried to show a door who was better again.

I'd learned my lesson.

Doors were very, very mean creatures. Or objects. Whatever.

* * *

"Good thing those people were nice," Yoh said, sighing in contention. His eyes were closed as he sat cross-legged in a chair, listening to music from his head phones.

We sat in the guest room, just lounging around. I lay, sprawled across the floor in front of the fire, just staring at it absent-mindedly.

"Yeah," Horohoro said. "There's still hope in this world. I feel like I really want to stay here for a couple days. " He tended to the fire, holding a pile of logs in his arms.

"Hey, Keiko, why are you not helping me, anyway?" he asked, looking both annoyed and amused at the same time.

I sighed, rolling onto my side so my back was to him. "I'm too tired," I groaned, closing my eyes.

"Why don't you go to bed?" he asked, throwing the logs into the fire.

I frowned, pouting. "'Cause I want to take a shower before I sleep, but Ryu's in there so I can't."

Suddenly, I heard Horohoro yelp and Kororo let out a small squeak.

"Huh?" I asked, rubbing my eyes as I turned around to face him.

He was covered in black soot from waist up. From the looks of it, he was kneeling in front of the fire to place more wood in.

"Um…" I mumbled, befuddled. "…Okay? Why is he like that?"

Kororo let out another panicked squeak and waved her tiny hands at him. Horohoro's black body instantly became encased in ice, the soot gone.

"…Wow?" I asked, slightly shocked. Well, that was weird.

Yoh chuckled. "What are you doing, Horohoro?"

I glanced over at him, only to see him let out a surprised cry as the rocking chair he'd been sitting on rocked back and forth abruptly, sending Yoh flying off his seat and onto the floor, face first.

I laughed loudly, pointing at his position on the floor. "Looks like the chair doesn't like you very much!"

Hearing something knock on the door, we all glanced at Ren, who was standing by the door with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

He reached out and grabbed the doorknob, opening the door. Bason, who apparently had sold himself to the dark side, because he had turned into his smaller form, only for some reason, was pink, flew out of the room via the open door.

"There's no one here," Bason said, looking at us. I grimaced at his horrid pinkness.

Suddenly, a big cooking pan fell from the ceiling and conked him on the head.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, smiling brightly. I clapped my hands together ecstatically. "The kitchen utensils have finally become enlightened to the evilness of pinkness!"

"But your hair is pink," Horohoro reasoned, looking at me skeptically.

_Mom's hair was pink too_.

I frowned. "I know that. I never said I liked my hair either, though."

"I still think its pretty," Yoh volunteered, removing his face from the floor.

I frowned at him. "Yoh, you are merely confused. You must never be enticed into joining the side of the evil pink."

_Mom's side._

Ren sighed and shook his head. "Idiots," he muttered.

Suddenly, a scream that sounded distinctly like Ryu's pierced the air.

I jumped at the sound. "Whoa! What was _that_?"

"What's wrong now?" Ren asked, exasperated.

"Maybe his hairstyle got messed up again," I offered, staring at the bathroom door. I would've ran over there and opened it myself already, but like I said, I already learned my lesson. Never mess with doors.

I was a little wary about approaching this one. It may have been an accomplice to the one I kicked earlier. Doors must be allied with Hao. Maybe that's why they're so evil.

Yoh and Horohoro got up, walking over to the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously.

Those idiot bastards ignored me, instead knocking on the door. Oops, I should've warned them about the wrath of evil doors. Oh well.

I rose from my spot on the floor and wandered over to them. "What are you doing?" I repeated, staring over Yoh's shoulder.

He frowned and reached out, turning the door knob.

The door swung open to reveal a shocked looking, mud covered Ryu sitting in the bathtub naked.

I shrieked and covered my eyes. "Oh my God! My poor eyes! I've been traumatized!"

Stumbling backwards blindly, I tripped over Yoh's sandals and began to fall backwards. I gasped. My eyes snapped open, and my arms began to flail around, groping for something to hold onto to stop the fall.

Unfortunately, there was nothing but air to hold onto, so I ended up with my back against the floor and a very sore butt.

"Ow…" I whined, rolling onto my stomach. "Couldn't anyone have caught me?"

"Sorry…"Lyserg mumbled, ever-the-so angsty bastard he always was.

Ren grunted. He cracked an eye open to look at me, smirking with amusement. "You'd probably be too heavy. Besides, with reflexes like that, you'll never become a strong shaman. Not that you'd ever become strong, anyway."

I glared at him from my spot on the floor. "Are you calling me fat?"

"He is," Horohoro agreed, grinning mischievously. "Don't worry though; I don't think your fat at all. Ren's just too sore to admit that_ he_ was the one didn't have fast enough reflexes to catch you."

He probably just wanted to get back Ren from some other fight he and Ren had had, but I didn't really care.

"Thank you, Horohoro," I said, watching with interest as Ren glared at Horohoro. "But really, I don't weigh _that_ much." I pouted.

Horohoro shot a challenging glance at Ren. "No, he just doesn't have the muscle power to do it."

Ren growled, pulling out his Kwan Dao out of nowhere. "What did you say?"

"Um…" I mumbled. "Maybe you guys should stop fighting….?" I trailed off, my eyes flickering back and forth between the two angry boys. "On second thought, don't. This is becoming rather entertaining." I plopped down on the possessed rocking chair that hated Yoh and snuggled into the hard wood. It wasn't very comfortable, but whatever. "Anyone got any popcorn?"

My voice was drowned out by the sound of Ren and Horohoro's yelling. No heard me, but I guess that was okay since I doubted they would've had any popcorn anyway.

I wondered if Holy Spirits ever got mad. Because I bet if they did, they would be really angry at Ren and Horohoro for wrecking their house. See, that's why I probably should have stopped them, but since that was basically impossible unless I was Yoh and had that weird, calming effect he had on people. But I didn't really have that ability and I was getting bored so…yeah.

Watching them fight was going to have to be my source of entertainment for now. I was hoping they would start to bring out the dirty stuff, 'cause you know, that's always the most interesting. I should tape them fighting one day. That would be hilarious.

"Hey, what are Ren and Horohoro fighting about now?" Yoh asked curiously, appearing out of nowhere.

"What is _with _you people and appearing out of nowhere?" I mumbled under my breath, before turning around to face Yoh. "They're fighting over how fat I am," I replied nonchalantly.

"But you're not fat," Yoh said, furrowing his brow in confusion.

I laughed. "Yeah, but that's not really the point. They'd fight over _anything_."

Yoh glanced at Ren and Horohoro, who were now having a full out fight, including oversouls and weapons. "That's just their way of showing how much they care about each other."

"You make it sound like they're in love," I commented, slightly amused.

Yoh chuckled. "Really? They just look like two really good friends to me."

I nodded, though my mind was already wandering.

Friends, huh?

How long would that tight relationship last?

How long would it be until one of them cut the string of friendship?

How long until Yoh and Anna decided they were tired of me?

How long?

* * *

That night, I sat on the roof, gazing up at the stars.

The clear night sky was like a black abyss, swallowing up all the light except for the small glimmers of light shining from the stars. The stars shone brightly, glittering for all the people to watch.

The moon was a large, crescent shape, kind of like a banana. I wondered if monkeys lived on the moon.

I could see craters on it, marring the surface and yet somehow adding character and beauty at the same time. I wondered how that could be. How could a scar, a remnant of something bad, become something so beautiful and intriguing?

"The stars are beautiful tonight," a voice suddenly said from behind me.

I jumped to my feet, startled. My head whipped around until my gaze landed on a familiar purple spiked, Chinese boy.

"Ren?" I asked, my eyes taking his firm stature. He was standing behind me, his figure encased by shadows. I could only see the outline of him. It was too dark to see anything else.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. He was holding his Kwan-Dao.

His eyes snapped open, his gaze cold and fierce. His eyes were a bright, golden yellow, somehow visible despite the darkness around us. His eyes were like a prowling cat's, callous and independent, always witty and never afraid to strike first.

I watched warily as his arm rose, the Kwan-Dao's blade raising to point at my neck. Moonlight glinted off of the sharp, silver blade. The tip grazed the skin on my neck, drawing a small drop of crimson liquid. My gaze dropped to the threatening blade.

My eyes were calm and devoid of any emotion. I knew how to handle these kinds of situations. Ren was suspicious, and that was a problem. I would have to nip the problem at the bud. Either kill him now or convince him otherwise. I surveyed my choices. I was a weak shaman, not nearly as strong as Ren. He would kill me before I killed him. That probably wasn't wise. I guessed I would have to lie my way out of it.

After all, lying _was_ what I did best.

"What are you doing?" I asked monotonously. I knew I probably should have acted more Keiko-like, but at that moment, I didn't really care. All I cared about was dealing with the situation at hand in the best way as possible, and these sorts of things were always dealt best when one was calm and able to analyze the situation accurately.

"I don't know what you are to Yoh, or how you know how from before, but if you're thinking of betraying Yoh, then…" he trailed off, the narrowing of his cold eyes and the weapon at my neck enough to tell me what he had meant.

A small smirk curled the corners of my lips up. I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my coat and shot Ren a challenging look.

"Then what?" I asked. My skin was pale in the moonlight, almost giving me a ghastly look.

Ren growled, drawing his Kwan-Dao back to the skin of my neck, as if to remind me of its purpose.

My smirk grew. "It's an empty threat. You'd never kill me." I met his cold gaze with my own, refusing to back off.

He stood firm in his position, matching my challenge.

I stared into his unwavering eyes, full of passion for his friends. I took back what I'd said earlier. He was not emotionless. If you dug deep enough you could see the raw, exposed emotion in his eyes. He cared about his friends a lot. Perhaps that was his weakness, a fatal point that could cave his hardened resolve.

But what I had seen was enough. Enough for now. Enough for me to tell he would not back down.

I sighed and shook my head, stepping away from the Kwan-Dao. "Don't worry. I won't betray Yoh," I said. I cast one more meaningful look towards Ren before turning back around with my back to him. His stance was still firm, but slowly, I heard his Kwan-Dao lowering from its position at my neck.

I lowered myself onto the edge of the roof in a sitting position, my head tilted up towards the sky. I took a deep breath, inhaling the smells around me. I gazed at the stars intently, intriguing by their pure beauty. I was no longer aware of the world around me. I lost myself in my own world. I let myself forget about Ren, and his presence. I felt him still standing behind me, but no longer with a rather threatening aura about him. Instead, he seemed confused, as if he were debating something. But all that was forgotten in the midst of the night sky above us.

It was silent for a moment, just the crickets chirping and an owl hooting in the forest.

Light footsteps broke the silence. The sudden sound that pierced the silence pulled me back to reality, but I kept my eyes on the night sky above me, even as he gradually approached me.

He stalked over to where I sat, my legs dangling over the side of the roof. He stood next to me for a moment, as still as a statue. I felt his steady, cold and calculating gaze on the back of my head, as if he were judging me—judging whether I was lying or not. Whether I deserved his trust or not.

Another moment of silence passed, before Ren broke it with a grunt.

I glanced up at him to see him slowly lowering himself to sit beside me. A smirk was on his face as he lent back on his hands and gazed up at the stars, not uttering another word. It appeared as if he had made his decision.

It was a moment of silent acceptance between him and me, and for the first time, I felt like I could somewhat relate to him. He was always guarded, never willing to give his trust and friendship to anyone who just came by. He was ignorant, so naïve like the others, but wise all the same. I knew he had experienced many things that the others had the glory of never encountering. I knew he had seen the many evils that lurked in the darkness of the world. I could see it in his eyes, in his words, in the way he walked. It was written all over him.

I stared at his face. Lit up in the moonlight, he looked so different and yet the same as well. His normally cold face had softened. He looked almost…angelic.

A small smile formed on my lips. Perhaps Ren was not so bad after all.

Slowly, I turned back to the stars and lost myself in their beauty.

* * *

"Good morning," Yoh said as he walked down the stairs, Lyserg walking beside him and me trailing behind.

I yawned groggily, rubbing the sleep out of my bleary eyes. "Good morning," I slurred lethargically.

The sun had risen and it was the next morning. I hadn't gotten much sleep, seeing as I had spent half the night out of the rooftop looking at the stars, and the other half curled up in the very, very corner of the living room as far away from the others as possible, unable to fall asleep. It hadn't occurred to me until later that I would have to sleep in the others' presence if I wanted to sleep on a real bed.

So, I slept in the corner instead, with a blanket wrapped around me. But it didn't really work out well, because I was still in the same room as Yoh and the others. It was really unnerving me. I didn't want to sleep in the kitchen or anywhere else, so I didn't really have a choice. So basically, I got no sleep in at all. Isn't that just wonderful?

I stumbled down the stairs behind Yoh, my feet dragging like ten ton weights. I would like to contradict that morning greeting. This morning was not a good morning, not in the least. At least, for _me_ it wasn't.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" the old lady asked from the bottom of the stairwell.

Yoh grinned. "Absolutely."

I grimaced. How could he be cheerful so early in the morning?

The old lady smiled. "That's good to hear."

"Thank you for everything," Lyserg said.

I felt like collapsing on the stair railing I was so tired. My eyelids drooped. I struggled to keep my eyes open. My eyes kept closing for longer and longer moments each time, my head lolling down with them. Each time my eyelids closed it seemed like they became heavier and heavier. It was so hard to open them, especially when it was so tempting to just fall asleep.

"So…" the old lady began. "I have…something that I would like to discuss with you. Being Shamans, I'm confident in your abilities."

My head snapped up, and I blinked quickly. Whoa…that was a close call. I almost fell asleep on the stairs, which, by the way, was probably not the wisest thing to do.

I dragged behind Yoh as he, Lyserg, and the old lady walked towards the dining room table. What'd the old lady say again? I wasn't listening…

Something about discussions and shamans…

Oh, I guess they finally decided to reveal their real intentions as Holy Spirits.

Whatever, I just wanted to go to sleep…

* * *

"How did you know we were shamans?" Ryu asked.

We sat at the dining room table, all gathered to hear whatever the old couple wanted to discuss. I was seated between Ren and Yoh, my head resting in my folded arms on the table.

The blackness was so welcoming…

Slowly, I closed my eyes, blocking the morning sunlight streaming through the windows. I was so...so _tired_.

I shook my head and slapped myself on the cheek. I couldn't sleep now. Not until we had done whatever the Holy Spirits wanted with us and we were back on the road…

"Well, she has a rather strong spiritual sense," the old man explained, smiling.

Horohoro smirked. "Well, it's not like we must keep it a secret."

I felt like contradicting him, but I couldn't find the strength to do it. We _did_ have to keep it a secret. Shamans were not welcome amongst humans. Didn't he know that?

"What would you like to discuss with us?" Ren asked. That was just like him, getting right to the point.

The old lady looked down. "To tell you the truth, there are dangerous monsters living in the remnants of the town coal mine. I want you to defeat it. "

My eyelids drooped heavily. Oh…monsters…whatever.

I slapped my cheek again, struggling to stay conscious.

I had to stay awake, at least until we got back on the road. I yawned. But that seemed so_ far _from now…

Glancing at Yoh, I realized he knew what they were up to too. Surely he wouldn't need me to be around. After all, it was only a little trip to the coal mine to entertain the Holy Spirits. It wasn't like it was some big fight with Hao or anything. They could manage before I came along, so they could manage now.

I slumped over in my chair, burying my head in my arms.

"Yoh…" I groaned sleepily. "Count me out on this one."

* * *

I woke up to the sound of Holy Spirits screaming.

"What the hell?" I murmured, glancing around the room curiously. As expected, I was the only one in the dining room. The room was eerily quiet, the only sound coming from outside.

I stumbled sleepily over to the large windows. It was afternoon now, and the sky was a bright, cerulean blue, but for some reason, it was dark out. Something was covering the sun.

And it wasn't a cloud.

A giant, red, Lego monster shadowed the sun, looming over the ghostly town omnisciently. My eyes widened at the sight of the long brown-haired boy in a beige poncho perched on the…antenna thingy sticking out of the head of the Spirit of Fire.

"Hao," I whispered, instantly wide awake.

What was he doing here? I squinted to make out the small shapes of Holy Spirits in the midst of a fire he had created. They were screaming in pain as they burnt up, swallowed by the Spirit of Fire.

I winced. Ouch. Well, I'm glad I didn't go out there with Yoh and the others. Luck must have been on my side today.

And why was Hao sitting on the antenna thingy? I mean, whenever I saw him before, he was either on the shoulder of the thing or in its hand. And why did it even have those things sticking out of the sides of its head like pig tails, anyway?

Maybe they were ears. Just really long, stick-like ears that were straight and stuck out of its head weirdly. Maybe the Spirit of Fire could use them like antennas to hear the radio broadcasts and stuff, so Hao could listen and cackle like the maniac he was, when reports of towns burning down mysteriously and burnt-to-crisp corpses of people were found lying in the middle of nowhere, came onto the broadcast.

On second thought, those antenna thingies sticking out of his spirits head looked like airplane wings. Wow, the Spirit of Fire had an airplane as a head. Maybe that was why he could fly.

Well, that must have been convenient. Maybe that was the real reason why Hao chose the Spirit of Fire as his right hand Lego man, beside the fact that Hao seemed to like the Lego theme. I mean, he had Lego gloves, and Lego shoes, and Lego-like earrings, and--oh my god, he looked like a _girl_!

My jaw dropped. How could I not have noticed that before? He liked stars, he had matching outfits, he wore earrings and had really long hair…

Oh! I got it! I bet he also decided that Patch people should stop being such sexist pigs and call the Shaman King the Shaman Queen. That _must _have been the reason why he looked like such a girl.

…I doubted it.

Or maybe he really _was_ gay and in love with his twin brother, Yoh. Oh wait, that's really good soap opera material. It's forbidden love! How intriguing.

I sighed and stepped away from the window. Well, whatever. I'd let Hao do whatever he wanted, regardless. There was no way in hell I was ever going to get in his way, or even consider doing that.

He could kill as many people he wanted and eat all the spirits in the world, but there was no way I was risking my life for someone or something that wasn't me. It was cruel, yes, but it was the law of survival.

Now if only Yoh would learn that too…

* * *

"I'm sorry," Yoh apologized.

It was sunset now, the sky a bright orange with bright yellow and pink swirls sweeping across it. We were back on the road now, Hao gone and me back with the group.

I wasn't entirely sure what had happened back there while I was asleep, but I had a feeling it had something to do with Hao doing what he does best—killing off spirits in front of Yoh for some reason or another. I wasn't even sure how he did that. How could he kill something that was already dead?

You see, that was the_ real_ reason why people should've thought Hao was amazing. He could do the impossible, like killing ghosts. But _no_, people wanted to think he was awesome and kick ass because he wielded the oh-so-mighty Spirit of Fire who looked like an over-sized, mutated Lego monster who ate a McDonalds Might Kids meal one day and became super powerful overnight.

"No," the Holy Spirit denied. "We were the ones who stopped you."

"No, actually, it was Ryu who stopped you. Remember, he was screaming about Billy as he ran over to your car?" I said, wondering why these people always wanted to place the blame on themselves when it was obviously someone else fault.

I mean, what the hell is wrong with them? If I were them, I would just let the other person take the blame. Because nothing's ever _my _fault.

Yeah, okay that was lie. But see, _that's _how you pin the blame on someone else.

"You guys know Hao?" Ren asked seriously.

"Yeah," it replied. Is it a boy or a girl? Do Holy Spirits have genders or can I just call them 'it'? "As the man who uses the Spirit of Fire, he's…Spirit of Fire is a strong spirit since he was born from the Great Spirits."

I sighed as we began to walk off. I wondered just when Hao would just come out of the shadows and tell Yoh about their little family 'relationship'.

"Be careful!" the Holy Spirits called after us.

Yeah right. Yoh always got us in trouble, usually because of some good deed he insisted on doing.

We could never stay out of trouble for long.

* * *

End of Chapter 10.

Please Review.

Tell me what you guys think is going to happen. It's very interesting to find out what you guys are predicting.

Review please!

Anyone want to give me some constructive criticism? I'd appreciate it a lot.

-Cookie Krisp


	11. A Brother

**Author's Note: ** Here is chapter 11. I apologize if characters are OOC. I try my best. There may be errors in this one because I was tired when I was reading it over. I kept falling asleep. Sorry peoples.

**Disclaimer:I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.**

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* * *

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**Chapter 11: **

"Damn it, it's not coming," Horohoro swore, a frown marring his face.

I perked up. "What?" I asked. "The baby?"

"No!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. Well, _someone _was exasperated. "The bus!"

I groaned. We were back in the desert again, wandering around the dry, barren lands with no trees for miles. The sun burnt my skin, and I meant that literally. Like I said before, I had pale skin, and let me tell you this—pale skin does not fair well in open sunlight.

It was so hot I could practically see the heat waves rolling off the dirt ground. This was _so_ not my type of weather.

Sweat dribbled down my forehead. Drenched strands of my pink bangs clung to my skin, sticky with sweat. My throat was so dry and sore, I swore the climate had turned my own mouth into the Sahara Desert. I licked my dry lips, but there was not a drop of moisture left on my tongue. That was_ so_ not right. How could I be sweating buckets out here, and yet not have any saliva left? Dude, that is_ so_ messed up.

"Oh my god," I breathed exhaustedly, fanning my face. "I'm dying of dehydration here. Someone _pul-lease_ cool me down."

"But you're sitting in the shade!" Horohoro cried.

Ren had spotted some bus stop in the middle of the desert, and so that's exactly where we had ended up resting. I personally thought it was a phony, I mean _seriously_, who puts a bus stop in the middle of nowhere? It's not like a bus is actually going to _come_.

Well, then again, I guess I didn't have a right to complain. After all, _I _was the one living in a house that was in the middle of a desert, in the middle nowhere, and three hours away from civilization.

But anyway, I thought it would be the perfect place of rest, seeing as the bus stop had a nice shaded booth, protecting me from the sun's harsh rays. And yet somehow, I was still dying from the overwhelming heat.

I always_ knew_ I wasn't a desert person.

I shrugged. "So?"

"So? What are you talking about, so? You're sitting in the shade relaxing while I'm standing out here waiting for the bus!" he exclaimed, glaring at me.

I shrugged again, rolling my eyes. "You're an idiot."

"What?" Horohoro screeched. He sounded mad, but something in his eyes told me he only thought of this as a small banter between friends.

Friends, huh? I scoffed.

Irritation bubbled up inside of me. I was annoyed, though I wasn't sure what at. Normally, I wasn't this short tempered. I wasn't one for arguing, yet somehow, I felt like…I don't know. I didn't know what I felt like. I grimaced, slightly befuddled.

Like the cold, the extreme temperatures of the desert _must _have been getting to me.

"I said you're an idiot." I repeated slowly, stressing each word. "I mean, only an idiot would wear their coat in weather like this."

"Who are you calling an idiot—

He halted, cutting himself off. "Hey, wait a second…" he paused thoughtfully. "Why _am_ I wearing a coat in this weather?"

"Because you're an idiot," I reasoned, sighing heavily.

"Hey!" he cried angrily. "_You're _the idiot!"

I frowned at him. "Why am _I_ the idiot? _I _took off my coat the minute we entered the desert, unlike some _other _people."I shot meaningful glance at Horohoro.

I watched with interest as he growled, grinding his teeth together in irritation. Wow, I must have really been grating down on his nerves for him to be acting like some untamed lion.

Horohoro whirled around and plopped down on the ground with his chin in his hand, huffing to himself. He continued to silently fume, sending angry glares at me every once in a while.

What a baby.

Another hour passed. The bud had yet to come. We were in no such luck. And Horohoro was _still _acting like a baby. Eventually, I gave in. I sighed heavily, closing my eyes and shaking my head. I was tired of feeling holes getting burned into my head.

"Look," I finally said, completely and utterly exasperated. "If you don't want to take off your coat, then fine—don't.

He huffed, letting out a big gust of air. Great, he was still being annoying. Like I said, Horohoro was a big, big baby.

By the way, babies are _not _cute.

I furrowed my brow, pouting. "You don't have to get so _mad_."

Yoh chuckled beside me. "Don't worry, Keiko. He'll snap out of it sooner or later."

I groaned in desperation, dropping my head into my hands. "But you guys are _so_ lucky. I mean, if I were a boy, I would totally take off my shirt. It is _way_ too hot out here."

Horohoro instantly brightened, swiveling around with a lecherous grin on his face. Next to me, Ryu had drool hanging out of his mouth. Okay, I did not even want to know what kind of perverted fantasies they were having. That is just _so_ gross. Not to mention inappropriate and immoral.

I flushed bright red, blood rushing to my cheeks. "No-no," I protested, waving my arms in front of my face frantically. "I didn't mean it _that _way!"

Horohoro snickered, a teasing glint in his eye. "Are you _sure_? I'm sure you would love to take off your shirt and show everyone what's_ under_ it."

I was just itching to punch his face in. But somehow, I didn't think that would go over well with Yoh, so I had to restrain myself.

My blush deepened, now a beat red, quite noticeable against my pale skin. I stiffened. "Well, I'msure _you_ would love to see it," I countered.

"There's nothing to see, anyway," Horohoro quickly retorted. He smirked impishly at my reddened face, half of the blush from embarrassment and half from anger.

How dare he say that! And it wasn't even true. At least,_ I_ didn't think it was. For Pete's sake, I was only twelve, and although I have no intention of revealing any personal information (cough-cup size-cough cough), I knew I wasn't flat. I felt my embarrassment becoming more and more like anger.

Yoh chuckled nervously. "Um…Settle down…?" he mumbled, a sore attempt of calming me down.

Okay, screw Yoh and what he thought. I was going to punch some sense into Horohoro and no one was going to stop me.

I growled, jumping out of my seat. "Perverted bastard!" I yelled.

Screaming like that felt good. Immature, yes. Stupid, yes. Unlike both the real-Keiko and fake-Keiko, yes.

And yet, somehow, screaming like that and getting mad over absolutely nothing felt so good. So…relieving. It was like taking something off my shoulders.

It was a strange revelation to have. I didn't understand it at all, and yet, at the same time, a part of me did. Acting childishly was acting as my stress-reliever. But why?

I wasn't stressed. The only thing I had to worry about was Hao. And keeping my secrets. And deceiving Yoh. And deceiving a whole big group of people. And surviving a bunch of shaman fights. And getting to Patch Village alive. And---

Okay, so maybe I _did_ have a lot of worry about.

But that feeling of relief wasn't the only thing I felt as I argued with Horohoro. I felt another emotion. So odd and unfamiliar to me. I had never felt it before. It was like a feeling of warmth, of happiness, of…friendship?

But that couldn't be. Inwardly, I shook my head. I didn't need friends. I didn't even _have_ friends. Yoh and Horohoro and all the others—even Anna were just...toys. Like in chess. They were the pawns in a game of chess, moved in accordance to the players plan. They were tossed away carelessly, just small things that were used until they weren't needed anymore.

Besides, how could arguing be a form of friendship? On second thought, scratch that. If Horohoro and Ren could pull off that kind of weird enemy/friend/rival relationship, then I guessed it was possible, no matter how obscure the idea was to me.

But Horohoro and me having a good-hearted, friendly quarrel? I thought not. That would never work out. I wasn't like Ren or Horohoro. Ren may have denied his need for a friend, but for me, it was true. I really didn't need anyone except myself.

No really, I didn't.

So why did I feel like I was more of reassuring myself than confirming a fact?

"Flat-chested wimp!" Horohoro yelled back.

I should have been insulted, humiliated, or even enraged. There was no doubt about that, but somehow…somehow I felt kind of…elated that he and I were fighting. I felt kind of happy that maybe, just maybe he and I could have as deep a friendship as Ren and him had.

I kind of felt like I wanted a friend I could quarrel with about the stupidest of things and yet still be friends.

...What the hell was wrong with me?

I gritted my teeth together. "What did you say?" I snapped.

"Hey, morons," Ren interrupted.

I shifted my gaze away from Horohoro to glare at Ren. "What?" I snapped.

"Shut up," he said firmly. I glowered at him. What right did he have to command me around? God, it wasn't like I was his dog.

Hey, wait a second. Is he blushing?

I narrowed my eyes, squinting, and just as I had thought, there was the slightest touch of pink spread across his cheeks.

"Oh my," I said. I turned away from Horohoro, our argument forgotten. Well, not forgotten. More like, put to the side so I could do other things more entertaining. Like teasing Ren.

I couldn't believe Ren was blushing just because Horohoro had mentioned boobs. But whatever. I guessed everyone had their own little quirks.

A smirk curled the edges of lips up. "Is little Renny _blushing_?" I asked slyly.

Horohoro's head snapped around. "What? What?" he yelled, his eyes wide. "Let me see, let me see!"

Ren's blush deepened, now more noticeable. "I am not blushing!" he growled. He closed his eyes and snapped his head to the side.

"Hey!" I cried. "Stop lying! And don't turn away, I want to see it!"

He let out another growl, but otherwise ignored me.

I snickered, delighted by my new source of entertainment. I sauntered over to where Ren stood, leaning against the bus stop. Smirking impishly, I nudged his shoulder and tugged on his arm. Glaring furiously, he turned to look at me.

"What?" he snarled.

I laughed and let go of his arm. "Ren's an innocent soul," I said between chuckles. "Horohoro, make sure you don't corrupt him."

Ren looked like he was going to kill me. But the now bright shade of red his face had turned was enough to cancel his killing intent out. Instead, he just looked like a kicked puppy.

I smiled cheekily. "Ren's _blushing_," I teased playfully. "He's all red in the face."

"I already told you," he snapped defensively. "I am not blushing."

I laughed again. I watched with amusement as he began to blush even _more._ Dude, I should totally have gotten an award for making the coldest person on Earth blush.

I reached up and poked his cheek. "Really?" I asked, grinning. "'Cause I think it's kind of cute."

He flushed tomato red. He was so red I didn't know how he could even get that red to begin with.

But like I said, it _was_ kind of cute.

But, to my great disappointment, Ren was quick to collect himself. He cleared his throat, his blush now cleared away.

Ren stood firmly in front of the bus stop with his arms against his chest. "Let me ask you something. Why is there a bus stop in a place like this?"

"Um…"I began. "Because there is?" I offered.

Wait a second....he just changed the topic! Ha, he was totally busted. Horohoro was totally going to notice.

"Hey wait! You're the one who found the bus stop first!" Horohoro yelled in Ren's face.

Or not. Wow, their stupidity never failed to surprise me.

"Yeah," I said. "But he never--

"I only said it was a good place to rest. I never said anything about waiting for a bus," he replied calmly.

But of _course_, I was ignored. Typical behavior of self-centered, completely retarded, mentally ill jerks.

I pouted, feeling miffed.

See? I _told _you I could never be friends with them. I mean, what kind of friendship grows off of one person who is constantly lying (that would be me, but of course, I always lie for a good cause…kind of) and a few other people who think said liar is a complete air-headed dimwit, who is too weak to protect themselves, who never has anything worth listening to?

Okay, so some of those ideas were probably all my fault for projecting that image into their minds, but I never tried to make myself come off as some person with no brain. I mean, I was glad they thought I was really weak, because in all actuality I _was_, but I swear I wasn't stupid.

They could protect me all they wanted with their big, powerful oversouls. I was all for bodyguards. Actually, I was _hoping_ they would protect me. Especially from Hao. One day, that dude was going to kill me. No joke. When he found out I had the book he would probably maim me until I gave it to him.

…No, I didn't mean that Johnny Learns How To Eat Healthy By Baking Chicken Pie book Daddy got me for my third birthday (I loved that book). I meant the book. _The _book. How about I capitalize it for importance? The Book. _Now_ does that sound better?

Okay, so anyway, Hao would do anything to get his hands on The Book. Honestly, I wasn't very fond of the thing myself, but it was kind of my duty to protect it, so…

Not that I really cared about duties. I didn't even understand why I bothered. It was Mom's book, anyway. How irresponsible, shoving your duties onto a daughter you didn't even want. Why couldn't she have given it to Brother? He was older than me.

Oh right, I forgot. He couldn't see spirits. My bad.

But knowing me, and how much I valued my life (unlike _some_ people), there was no way I was going to throw my life away for some retarded book. I didn't care how powerful the spells inside it were.

Mom said it was really important to keep it safe, because if it got into the wrong hands, the person could destroy the world. But ask yourself, how cliché is that? How many times have you watched a TV show and heard that same line?

Really, I thought Mom was lying. I knew the book was powerful, after all, I _had_ used it before, but I didn't think it was _that_ powerful. She probably thought she could fool me, me being four-years old and all. Besides, if you asked me, Hao was already going to rule the world anyway, so what was the harm in him having a little extra power?

Not that I was going to just hand the book over to him and be done with it. That would seem to be the easiest answer, but since he dreamed of killing off all humans and weak shamans, I would be included in that weak shaman category, and I liked my life, thank you very much. So basically I was doomed either way.

_Sure_, I could burn the book. Not. Believe me, I tried. The book had some stupid barrier or something. That was so not cool.

I sighed and shook my head, focusing back in on the present. Great, Ren and Horohoro were still arguing. I wished they would shut up.

"Hey," I said.

They kept yelling.

I grimaced, slightly peeved.

Seriously, I don't care if I come off sounding as some doinky women's rights campaigner, but I really did not want to be ignored, especially when I was trying to be humorous. It may not have taken a lot of effort to think up stupid comments (I think I got that from my…ugh, Mom. Acting stupidly is totally in my blood. At least I'm not completely stupid, like some idiot Mom and brother of mine), but when I actually chose to say them in order to preserve my image, I liked to be heard. Do you hear me? _Heeeeeeard._

I would have understood if I were saying something mean (like what I'm always thinking), because hey, no one wants to hear mean things, but I was actually trying to be nice. Comedy lightens up the atmosphere. It makes people _laugh_. I may not have been that stupid, innocent, and total goof of a girl I tried to come off as, but I _did _believe in good humor.

"Hey guys…" I tried again.

"Isn't it obvious a bus will come if we wait at a bus stop?" Horohoro argued, talking over me.

"Why is there even a bus stop here in the first place?" Ren retorted coolly.

"Hey," I repeated, slightly louder.

Horohoro glared at Ren. "According to you, you said---

"Like I said, why would a bus come all the way to the middle of nowhere?" Ren asked again.

"Hey," I raised my voice even more.

"What? Are you thinking at all?" Horohoro spat.

"Are you stupid?" Ren asked.

"Hey!" I said, my voice almost a yell.

"What did you say? That's it! Step outside!"

I gritted my teeth, feeling a glower making its way onto my normally bright face.

"Aren't we already outside?"

"Damn it, you're pissing me off--

"Shut up!" I bellowed, finally releasing all that pent up irritation.

I expected them to look at me, gawk at me, or even laugh at me for that sudden, out of character outburst of mine.

But no. Instead, they all looked at _Lyserg_, who surprisingly, had yelled at them to shut up at the exact same time I had.

Normally, I would have been pleased that I had finally acquired the skill of unison. But not now. Not when I had totally yelled my head off, and even though I was standing _right next_ to them, Ren and Horohoro had completely ignored me, in favor of Lyserg.

Because yeah, Lyserg yelled so much louder than I did. _Not_.

I glowered furiously. I swear, my body was trembling in anger. I was _so_ done with being ignored. If they wanted to ignore me—fine! I was leaving.

I stomped off in the opposite direction. I didn't care that I was being completely rash and hot headed. I officially hated being ignored more than anything else in the world.

I ignored it when I heard Lyserg cry out in surprise, and then a bunch of battle cries and yelling from behind me. If they could ignore me, then I could ignore them. As they say, an eye for an eye. Ha! See how much they like that?

Hearing a loud crash from behind me, I snuck a glance back out of curiosity. Oh great, they were fighting some new shaman dude with his McDonalds Happy Meal Toy oversoul. What the hell? Did Hao send him? Oh yeah, I bet he did. Hao's a crazy stalker like that, you know?

I narrowed my eyes and snapped my head back around, walking faster than before. I told myself they were just pieces that could be stepped over and forgotten. I told myself it didn't hurt that they hadn't even noticed I was gone yet. I told myself I didn't care that it looked like they were losing back there.

Yet, as I walked away from it all, I couldn't help but notice that sharp pang stabbing me in the chest.

What had I gotten myself into?

* * *

I sighed. I was completely and utterly lost. Trust me to stomp off on a stupid whim and end up in the middle of nowhere. Only _I_ would do that.

I groaned loudly, collapsing on the ground. I blamed PMS for my random mood swings and strange behavior lately. Forget the fact I didn't have my period.

A breeze rustled my hair, whisking stray strands in front of my face. A frown marred my face as I stared up at the pinkness, the evil, evil pinkness.

I hated Mom and her pink hair. It was a wonder why Brother didn't inherit the pink hair too. Why did I get it, and he not? It would be perfect for him, I mean, he _was _the evil one. Okay, so maybe I was a _teensy_ bit crooked too, but I blamed that on genetics. I must've gotten that from Mom.

A grain of sand blew into my mouth. "Bleh," I gagged, coughing and sputtering. Let me tell you, sand does not taste like chicken. Don't let your best friend fool you.

"That was nasty," I said to myself.

I waited, and waited, and waited, but no one answered. The wind blew across the desert, stirring up the sand around me. Tumbleweed rolled by.

I sighed and shook my head. What was I doing? It was so silly, talking to myself when I was clearly the only one around for miles. And yet, the silence felt so… _awkward_. It was almost as if I expected Horohoro or Ren or Yoh or _someone _to pop out of nowhere and start yelling.

I frowned. I was getting too attached. It was never good to stay with the same people for very long. That would cause you to develop unwanted ties that could hinder you later on in life. See, I _knew_ I should've stayed away from Yoh. But no, I just _had_ to go with them and look at where it got me.

In the middle of nowhere.

_And _with no one around, no one to talk to, and a strong longing for a friend, a companion—_someone _who I could count on to always be there for me.

How stupid.

I could not believeonly a small bit of time spent with Yoh and his friends had turned me into this…dependent, stupid _monster_ who wanted nothing more than a friend, someone who would pretend to be loyal, and then desert her later. I couldn't believe I was pedaling backwards in time—back to the time where I was ignorant and naïve and trusted anyone who so as much smiled at me. I couldn't believe my resolve to never be like that again—to never trust, to never be tricked, to never_ ever_ be hurt like that again was so fragile that it could be shattered by just the weakest touch of friendship.

I couldn't believe it. I simply _could not_ believe it.

I sighed again and rolled onto my stomach. I was so exhausted.

Closing my eyes, I rested in the soothing darkness. I expected the familiar silence to be comforting, but it wasn't. Instead, it was unnerving. I frowned. I didn't understand! I used to love it. I used to _cherish_ it. It was all that I had wanted. So why was it that now—now, I yearned for there to be someone beside me, filling that silence for me?

As I lay there, basking in the desert's harsh rays with my eyes closed, the yearning became stronger and stronger. I missed Yoh and his calm, yet wise words. I missed Horohoro and his annoying tendency to pick fights. I missed Ren and his cold words that concealed his real emotions. I missed Ryu and his strange haircut. I'll admit it—I even missed Lyserg and his angsty-ness.

Slowly, that yearning morphed into a strong desperation. I needed someone to be with. I didn't want to be alone anymore. No, it was so _lonely_ being by myself. I wasn't sure how I had gone all those years alone. I needed someone. It didn't matter who. It could've been _Hao _for all I cared.

_Keru, _my mind whispered to me, _you have Keru._

And it was true. I did. I wasn't alone---I had Keru. I could let Keru out of his tablet---

I stiffened, my eyes snapping wide open.

_No._ No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I could not –no, _would _not do that. Not unless I was in a shaman fight. I had vowed—frickin _vowed_ to the _god_ of shamans that I would never, _ever_ forget what had happened. That I would never treat him as more than a tool. That I would never even _think _about forgiving him.

I frowned. But…it was still company, wasn't it? I wouldn't be doing anything wrong if I only talked to him for a _little_ bit. Just a little bit. It couldn't hurt…

I sighed, giving in to the temptation. "Keru," I called, extracting his gray, stone tablet his spirit rested in from the pocket of my coat.

A small knot tightened in my stomach as I laid my eyes on the small spirit before me. I bit my lip and immediately averted my gaze away. I didn't like to look at him. He was a traitor.

I liked to think I didn't need him, but I knew that was a lie. He was my only spirit, and a powerful one at that. With my own weak shaman abilities and low furyoku, I needed someone like him. I hated him so much, but both Hyoui Gattai and Oversoul were so easy with him. It unnerved me so much to think about why it was possible that the two of us were able to converge so easily.

It meant that we had the same goal, that we were capable of thinking the same way, that we could become one. And it scared me. It scared me that I was able to think like him. It scared me that we could have the same goal. It scared me. It really, honest-to-goodnesss _scared_ me.

The bond we had between us when we merged was enough to shock many shamans. It made us powerful. It made us formidable. We shared thoughts and goals and dreams. We became one. And I knew why too. We did not share the bond of friendship, or comradeship or whatever Yoh liked to call it. It was the bond of blood we shared. The same blood running through our veins connected us in a way that nothing else could.

"Master?" Keru squeaked in Koala language. No, I didn't know Koala language, but he was my spirit, so I could understand him.

I snapped my attention back to him. "Do not speak unless spoken to," I growled irritably.

"My apologizes," he said coolly, bowing his head.

I sat in silence once again, just staring up at the blue sky forlornly. There was not a white wisp of cloud in sight, neither a tree to provide shade. I was so bored.

Eventually, the silence became overbearing. I rolled onto my side, ignoring the grains of sand sticking to the side of my arm, and just stared at Keru.

I thought about him. He wasn't much company, not a warm fellow at all. But I guessed I wasn't very good company to him either. I didn't let him talk unless I gave him permission. I rarely let him out of the tablet. I hated him with all my heart. But it was okay. It was justified. At least, in my mind it was. I decided he totally deserved that.

He'd betrayed me, so now he had to pay for it. Now, he was stuck as my spirit—my tool. Forget Yoh's cheesy speeches, I didn't give a damn whether or not my spirit had feelings, or how much my actions affected him. He didn't deserve my concern, nor my respect, and I wasn't about to give him any.

But he was here. And he _was_ someone. Someone I could talk to.

I sighed and flopped back on my back. I gazed up at the sky, squinting at the overly bright sun looming overhead. It burned my eyes. I flung an arm over my eyes to shield them from the sun's harsh rays.

"Keru?" I mumbled.

He jumped, clearly startled that I was addressing him. I couldn't blame him though; I didn't talk to him a lot. "Yes, Master?"

I paused. Truthfully, I didn't know what. I'd merely acted on instinct. I hadn't really had anything to say. I'd just wanted to talk, to say something, to fill the silence. "…Nothing," I said.

I closed my eyes, trying to block out the world. I could feel Keru's curious gaze boring into the back of my head. He was suspicious, perhaps, of my strange, out-of-character behavior, but obviously, he chose not to say anything.

The seconds ticked by, each one prolonged by the uncomfortable silence I was immersed in. I shifted from side to side, rolling around in the sand like a pig in mud, but I could not shake that urge I felt deep within me. It had permanently lodged itself in the pit of my stomach like a bullet, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into my core.

I furrowed my brow. What was I doing? I was supposed to be independent. I was supposed to be strong. I was supposed to be able to stand on my own two feet and support the weight of my own problems on my own shoulders, without the help of anyone else. I'd been alone since Dad died—since I was six. Sure, Brother was still there, but he was quick to abandon me—dump me in someone else's hands.

Surely—surely if I could survive alone when I was six, I could survive now.

So then why did I feel so miserable lying out there in the desert alone with no one to talk to?

I gave in. I caved. I let my desire consume me. Because at that moment, I was weak and vulnerable. I needed someone—anyone to be there with me. Someone that I could rest some of the weight onto. Someone who could help hold me up.

"Keru?" I tried again. I refused to look at him. I felt so ashamed, so bashful. I couldn't believe I was doing this, but I was. I was fraternizing with the enemy. I really, really was.

"Yes, Master?" Keru asked.

"What are you thinking about?"

He hesitated. I could tell he was surprised. It showed when he took a sharp intake of breath at my words. I wondered what he thought I was going to say. "Nothing much," he finally said, eyeing me warily.

"Tell me," I insisted firmly.

I honestly didn't really care what he was thinking about. I'll admit I was curious, because come on, if I wasn't, then what kind of person would I be? We all know we want to be psychics. But really, I didn't care about what he said, as long as he said _something_. I wanted to talk to someone. I wanted to hear someone's voice.

"Well, truth be told, I was wondering what _you _were thinking about," he said, a guarded edge to his voice.

"Oh," I said shortly. I didn't know what else to say. Usually, I didn't initiate conversations—I just jumped in them. What could I say that would get this conversation steered away from becoming the Most Awkward Conversation of the Year?

Well, I guessed now was the time to use a question that could get us into an argument. You know, because arguments always last really long and they help pass the time.

"…So, what do you think about the president's new tax policy?" I asked. Ah… and here, this is where you bring politics into play. Keru was into those things back when he was human, wasn't he?

"What policy?" he asked, bewilderment written across his fuzzy, Australian koala features.

I sighed. Oops. I'd forgotten I'd locked him up in the tablet. When he was in there, he didn't have newspapers or TVs to entertain himself with.

I felt silly. I felt so stupid and awkward and nervous. And it just made it worse that I knew making conversation with my spirit shouldn't have been this hard. I knew words should have came easily. I'd known him all my life. He'd known me all his life.

We were family.

And as much as I hated to admit it, he was my brother.

My brother.

My frickin' asshole of a brother.

Please excuse the swear words.

But I felt like I'd lost something. Lying here out in the sun, carrying out a conversation with my brother and my spirit and my enemy all at the same time, was so hard. It was wrong how hard it was to talk to him. I felt like we'd lost that bond that family had with each other. The kind where they can tell each other anything and give each other all their trust without worrying. Or maybe--maybe that bond between us never existed.

Maybe it was only _I _that had felt like it was there.

After all, it had been Keru who had sent me_ there_. He had been the one to accuse me of lying. He had been the one to hurt me first.

So now, here I was, traveling around with him as my spirit, treating him as my tool. I liked to think that I was getting revenge, that I was hurting him back, but sometimes it just didn't feel that way. It felt like I was just being petty and he didn't deserve whatever punishments I dumped onto him.

Those were the times when I would sit alone, curled up in a ball in the corner of a room, rocking myself to sleep because I didn't want anyone to touch me, and also because no one wanted to touch me anyways. Those were the times when I felt so incredibly lonely, all on my own with no one to help me. Those were also the times when I would loathe Keru and Mom and mourn for my dead dad.

Those were times that now, as I sat here in the sun., I looked back upon and saw my stupidity, my vulnerability, my foolishness, and resolved to never be like that again.

The wind whipped my hair into my face, bringing me back to reality. I sat up, opening my eyes and blinking the light out of my eyes.

I was different now. I was stronger. I was older. I thought about all those times I felt hopeless. My face hardened, my goals set back into place.

That's right. I couldn't be side-tracked. I only had one dream—one goal, one reason to live.

And that was for myself.

I wouldn't allow myself to be swayed by Yoh and his friends. I would go back to them, yes, but this time, I wouldn't' allow myself to be weakened by their false sense of friendship.

I wouldn't be fooled.

Not again.

Not this time.

"Keru," I commanded, my voice cold and firm.

I would no longer waver.

"We're going," I said.

I stood and began to walk back where I'd come from, tracing my footsteps back.

I knew Keru was surprised—astonished that I hadn't sent him back to the tablet, but this time—this time I wouldn't do that.

Because now, as I walked back in my footsteps, I realized that the real reason I had kept him locked up in there was not because I wanted to torture him—it was because of my weakness. It was because I couldn't stand to face him and see what we had become. It was because no matter what I had convinced myself of, I was still that stupid, naive little girl that cowered in the sight of everything.

It was then that I made up my mind. My strides were long and powerful, my head held high. My gaze was strong and piercing.

I would no longer run away. I would face my problems. I would face my fears.

And never again would I cower in front of fear.

Instead, fear would cower in front of me.

* * *

End of chapter 11.

Please Review.

Tell me what you guys think Ren thinks about her right now.

By the way, if this clears anything up, Keru, her Koala spirit, is her brother, who was once human and alive. Something happened that turned him into the way he is now.

-Cookie Krisp


	12. Reminiscing in the Past

**Author's Note: ** Okay, here's the next chapter. Boring, but necessary. It basically explains a lot of her past. Sorry if you don't like it. I honestly have no idea what I am writing while I am writing it so...yeah. Sorry.

**Disclaimer:I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.**

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* * *

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******Chapter 12:**

Okay, so, you know how I was walking back to Yoh and the others after a major temper-tantrum?

Yeah, well, I just realized I didn't know where I was going.

I groaned, the sun's harsh rays beating down on my back.

"I wish I could take off my shirt," I moaned miserably. The heat was simply unbearable. My white blouse was drenched in hot, sticky sweat. The wet cloth clung to my skin, emphasizing my curves. It seemed as though the sweat had washed out the white coloring, because now, the blouse might as well have been transparent.

That's right, perverted adolescent boys read this right now, my black bra was showing right through my shirt.

I blushed furiously at the thought.

Men had sick minds. That was why I hated them.

I shuddered in disgust.

Perverts. Ugh.

I shook the thoughts from my mind and plopped down on the ground. I sat pretzel-style on the ground with my chin cupped in my hands. My elbows rested on my knees. I furrowed my brow and stared into the distance, watching a piece of tumbleweed roll by.

I sighed loudly. I wished I could learn to somersault like that. Grace and coordination were things I lacked. I walked into a lot of things, I stumbled a lot, I crashed into things a lot…and oh yeah! I remember that one time I was just ambling around in this one mall, looking for rich people to pick-pocket, when I saw this one really rich dude walk into some lingerie store. What a pervert, right?

Right, so, anyway, I was watching him, and I was all like 'Oh my god! Pervert on the loose!'. So then, I started running to, like, call the animal control people, but suddenly this big glass wall, you know the ones where they display clothes on mannequins in? Right, so that thing came out of nowhere, and it was totally out to get me.

I crashed right into it, but then I rebounded 'cause like I said, the wall was totally out to get me, and then I fell backwards into a garbage can. First, I was like 'Holy shit! What the hell?', and then I was like 'Oh my god! I'm so embarrassed!', and then finally I was like 'Okay, screw this! I'm going to get out of here before another wall attacks me! This place is so not safe!'

See, I had totally wanted to go right back and kick that glass wall, but I was kind of afraid it would team up with Mr. Pervert-I-Walk-Into-Lingerie-Stores and beat the crap out of me. So, instead I just high-tailed it out of there.

And that, my friends, is how I learned two lessons in one experience.

One: Malls are dangerous.

Two: I must add luck, coordination, and grace to my already long list of 'Things I Am Deprived Of'.

Oh wait, there's a third lesson.

Three: Never try to stalk a pervert.

I felt another shiver crawling up my spine.

Have I mentioned I hate perverts?

Well, anyway, I do. So yeah.

I let out another sigh and continued to stare out into the distance.

I sat and sat and sat…

Um…and sat.

Oh yeah, I breathed too.

I really wasn't wasting time. I was just, you know, um, sitting. Because sitting is good for your…brain….somehow….I think.

Okay, okay! I was wasting time!

See, I was kind of nervous. What would they say when I suddenly appeared out of nowhere andwas all like "I'm back!". I wondered if they still hadn't noticed my absence. If they didn't, they were either really stupid or really oblivious. I pick that they were stupid, because that means I was smart, and that made me feel good.

Okay, this was not going good. I was not supposed to be scared of anything. Oops, I already went back on my word. I seriously stunk at making vows. It's a good thing I made it a point not to swear to god, because seriously, god would be really mad at me since I never followed through with any of those things. Sorry, god.

Slowly, I sighed and stood up. I brushed the sand from my butt and stretched my arms up in the air. I couldn't sit there forever. I would have to get moving, even if I didn't know where to.

I was about to start walking in the direction I thought was west (but couldn't be so sure), when I suddenly remembered Keru. Well, I hadn't put him back in the tablet so..he was still floating around me, wasn't he?

I spun around, my gaze whipped from side to side until it landed on my Koala spirit. I glared at him.

"I command you to tell me where the heck we are!" I growled. I crossed my arms and stomped my foot on the ground for emphasis.

He jumped, startled.

"Uh-um…" he stuttered, his mouth unable to form coherent words.

I snorted. Well, that wasn't exactly surprising. I mean, he _was_ a Koala after all.

"I-I-I.." he paused and looked down at his feet, his voice quieting to a mere murmur, "I don't know."

I fought the urge to groan. Noooooo!

He. Didn't. Know.

I was lost.

_Wonderful._

"You don't know!" I shrieked angrily. "I cannot believe this!" I glowered furiously at Keru, stalking up to him and pushing my reddened face in front of his. "This is all your fault," I hissed viciously.

"Um...Master?" he mumbled uncertainly.

"What?" I snarled.

He cringed. "I apologize, but, if I may ask, how is this my fault?"

My eyes-widened. How dare he talk back to me!

"What?" I yelled. "How can you not see how this is your fault? Are you blind?"

"Um, no," he replied quietly.

"Well then you're stupid!" I bellowed. "First, you aren't loud enough, so you make me forget that your there. Second, you didn't offer any advice at all even though I was obviously struggling. Third, you—uh…" I paused, stumped as to what to say, "uh…um…you uh…you…Well, you obviously did do _something,_ but I'm feeling extra kind today so I won't mention it."

Phew! Thank god for my witty saves.

I jabbed a finger in Keru's face. "Be grateful, you worthless scum bag."

He just stared at me unblinkingly.

"What?" I screeched. "Why are you not afraid? Why are you not begging for your life? Most of all, why are you not dropping down to your knees and bowing, while expressing your deep gratitude for me?"

He didn't say anything. He just kept staring at me, right at my face.

"Ugh!" I yelled in exasperation. "I don't get you! You're too confusing!"

He kept staring.

"Um…is there something on my face?"

He didn't answer.

"Oh my god!" I shrieked. My hands flew up to my face, feeling around for something unusual. "There _is _something on my face! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I shot a heated glare towards him.

Slowly, Keru shook his head.

"No?" I repeated. "No, what?

"No," he said slowly. "No, there's nothing on your face."

Slowly, my hands fell from my face back to my sides. "..Oh," I said shortly.

It was silent for a few awkward moments, just a slight breeze stirring up the sand.

Keru was the one to break it.

"Keep walking," he commanded.

"Huh?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts.

"Keep walking," he reiterated, sounding a bit impatient.

I grit my teeth together. "Know your place! I am your master! _I_ give the orders!"

He turned his gaze to me. "Just. Keep. Walking," he ground out through his teeth.

I froze, my eyes wide in shock. The frost in his eyes was scary. It should not have surprised me, after all, I hated him so he should have hated me back, but somehow it did. It was like I had been hoping, for some reason, that he would still harbor something towards me. He _was_ my older brother after all. Shouldn't he have been the more responsible one? Shouldn't the older brother always look after the younger sister no matter how troublesome she may be?

As if I was a robot, I turned on my heel and began walking. I didn't know why I was listening to him, but I did. I just did. It was strange, but it felt natural.

So, I walked. And walked, and –guess what?—walked some more. Just when I was going to turn around and flip Keru the finger for telling me to walk in the wrong direction, I heard voices.

…No, I didn't mean in my head. I meant _real_ voices, not like the weird ones in your head. At least, I hoped they weren't in my head.

So, I was super glad to hear voices, so I started to run towards them. And then…hallelujah! I saw Yoh and the others.

"Hey Yoh-"

Suddenly, I was interrupted by a bright flash of light, followed by a loud boom.

"Whoa!" I screamed. I felt little bits of debris flying through the air and held my arms in front of me to protect my eyes from the sharper shards. I closed my eyes tightly, blocking out the light and waiting for the strong gust of wind to settle.

Feeling the quietness being restored, I slowly cracked an eye open. Seeing the bright light gone, I cracked the other eye open.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, peering into the distance. I could see the small figures of Yoh and others if I looked close enough. "An explosion? Where did _that _come from?"

Something landed on the top of my head.

I screamed. "Bird poop!"

But then I realized it wasn't heavy enough to be bird poop, and it was didn't splatter either. It also didn't smell bad. Thank god for that.

But then what was it?

Cautiously, I lifted my hand and patted around on my head until I found the object. It was soft and feather-like, not at all squishy and icky like poop was.

I sighed in relief. I did not want bird poop in my hair. Sure, I hated my hair ten times more than I hated bird poop, but that didn't mean I wanted bird poop in my hair. I'd have to be sadistic to want that.

Slowly, I picked the thing off my head and brought it down into my vision.

A feather.

I stared at it skeptically, fingering the strange thing in front of my eyes. Where had it come from? The feather was pure white, not a speck of black or brown speckling it. It was completely clean too, no dirt or sand or anything marring the perfect whiteness. And weren't desert birds supposed to have sandy brown feathers so they could camouflage or something?

I tilted my head up to look into the sky. I expected to see some weird bird or something. I expected to see a mutated swan flying in the air. Heck, I even expected to see some demented monkey with wings.

But I never expected to see a body come falling from the sky.

"Oh my god!" I screamed. I jabbed my index finger at the falling thing. "Dead body!"

The body kept getting closer and closer. I tried to see what the hell it was, but the sun was in my way. I squinted into the bright light, but all I got was watery eyes and blurry vision.

Just when I was raising my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, a big, dark shadow was cast over the sun and I couldn't see anything.

And the rest happened in a mere three seconds.

I looked up at the shadow, wondering what the hell it was. But then I realized it was shaped like a human. My eyes widened in realization and horror. I probably should have moved to the side or something, but my feet were frozen in place. I wasn't quite sure how, seeing as this was the desert, and the scorching heat should have been enough to thaw them out, but they did. And I couldn't move.

And then the body hit me. It was heavy, so, so heavy. It knocked the wind out of my stomach and sent me crashing to the ground. I fell on my back. I heard my a loud, nauseating crack as my head snapped back and banged against the ground. I didn't know what was happening—only that a body had fallen on me, and now it was crushing me under its weight.

My back hurt. So did my head. Everything hurt.

I was so dizzy. Everything was spinning in circles. My vision was clouded over in black.

I tried to move, but it was like my arms were deadweights. I felt like I was suffocating. I couldn't breathe. Something was on top of my mouth. Something very heavy was on top of me.

I was turning purple. I could feel it. I had to do something, I mean, dying like that was certainly not on my to-do list for any time soon.

I gathered all the strength I had left in my body and shoved. "Oof," I grunted, pushing the body with all my might.

Slowly, it rolled off of me and I was once again able to breathe. Oxygen rushed into my lungs and I breathed heavily. I sat up, feeling the blood rush to my head. The world around me spun and my head pounded. It was liked my head had a heartbeat of its own. I groaned in pain, clutching my head in my hand.

Great, now I had a killer headache. Now if only that thing hadn't fallen on me, I would not have lost ten billion of my brain cells, which I totally needed, and I wouldn't have a big bruise on the back of my head that I was sure was forming. I didn't have to be a psychic to know that.

When my heartbeat calmed and my breaths began to slow back to a normal pace, I glanced nervously to the side, where the body was.

It was a boy. He had short, cropped seaweed brown hair. He wore a dark blue shirt and pants with a tie. He looked like a British dude going to a high class party to me, or at least, he would have, if not for the small, circular hole going straight through his chest.

"What the effin' hell?" I whispered, my voice taken from me. "What _is _this?"

My eyes were drawn to the hole in his chest. It was a perfect circle, like a piece of him had been punched out with a hole-puncher. My eyes widened with horror. It was disgusting. It cut right through him—right through his organs, and heart, and center, and came through the other end. I could see the ground through it. And yet there was no blood. Not even a drop of crimson red blood stained the edges of the wound or dripped onto the sand beneath him. It was a clean-cut.

"Holy crap," I swore. I could not take my eyes off of the hole. It was one of the most grotesque things I had ever seen. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. I was disgusted, but awestruck at the same time.

Questions flowed through my mind. Who killed him? It was obvious he hadn't killed himself. Etched onto his face was a look of pure horror and pain. His eyes were not closed—no, in fact they were wide open. His pupils were so tiny. His eyes scared me. They held so much emotion but at the same time were so empty. Was this how it felt to look into a dead person's eyes? They showed so much, but at the same time so little.

I could not stand to look into his eyes for one more moment. Timidly, I reached up to his deathly pale face. My hand hovered over his eyelids, hesitating. I did not want to touch him. It scared me. Dead people scared me. I was so afraid that perhaps if I touched them, I would disturb that picture—that picture that had been taken the moment their heart stopped beating and their time ticked to a stop. It felt wrong, so wrong to be touching someone whose life had been sucked out of them. I hated that feeling—I hated it so much, but I could not do anything about it.

Corpses terrified me.

My heart beat erratically in my chest. My breathing quickened to short, raspy breaths. My chest rose and fell quickly with my shallow breaths. My eyes were wide and filled with a mixture of fear and panic. My hand was slick with sweat. My fingers trembled as I slowly—so slowly that it was almost sickening— lowered my hand onto his eyelids.

My fingers brushed against his skin. He was so cold. It was icy and frozen over. When you died, were you cold? Did it hurt? How did one make the transformation from life to death? How did one separate their body from their spirit? How did one pass over to the afterlife?

My body shook in violent tremors as I knelt over the boy's dead body. I could barely control my fingers as I gently slipped close his eyes.

I did not understand. It was all so confusing. The unknown of the concept of death repelled me, but all the same intrigued me, as well.

And then the question that had dwelled in my mind for years pushed to the front of my mind. It burst with a vengeance, finally appearing after having been locked away in the darkest corner of my mind for many years.

What had Keru felt like when his spirit was ripped from his body? What had he felt like when he had been transformed from human spirit to Koala spirit? Had it been painful? Had it been torturous? Had it been numbing?

As I sat there, staring blankly at the dead body before me, I couldn't help but remember that day—that day that so much had changed for both me and Keru. I didn't know what the day meant to Keru, other than the fact that it was the day he had become a Koala spirit. I didn't know whether it held any sort of importance to him, or if it was just any other day in his boring, mundane life. All I knew was that it meant a lot to me. It was day of pain, of horror, of tragedy, of blood, and of death.

I remembered that day, six years ago, three months after Daddy had passed away. It didn't seem like that long ago, in fact, the memory so clear it could have been a few seconds ago.

That day, I was running down the alley ways of the darker, poorer parts of Hokkaido. My feet pounded against the pavement and my legs were jelly, but I ignored their protests. I couldn't get caught. I couldn't go back there. Not now. Not now that I had escaped. Not now. Not then. Not ever.

The darkness of the night shrouded me in shadows. There was no moon that night, and for that, I was grateful. There was not a sliver of moonlight to expose my whereabouts. It felt as though the light had been drained from the world that day. Perhaps it was a fearful night to others, but to me, it was a night full of hope and freedom and revenge.

That's right. That night was the night I planned to take revenge. It was the night I had dreamt and planned and dwelled on for two months now. Those last two months of my life had been pure torture, and not once had the thought of revenge slipped my mind.

I dashed around the corner of the alley and down the back streets. I was almost there. Just a bit more, and I would have everything I had ever hoped for. I would have freedom, I would have power, and I would have revenge all in the palm of my hand. Oh sweet, sweet revenge. Pay back was long overdue, I'd decided. It was time to take a visit to my dear older brother. I was sure he would be absolutely thrilled.

That night, all was silent. It was almost eerie, the way my feet made no sound against the pavement and the way the crickets did not sing their usual song. The only thing I could hear was my own panting and the fast beating of my heart in my chest. It was so loud compared to the quiet night that I was afraid my pursuers could hear my heart beating. I cursed myself for that—silently of course—but at the same time as I resented the sound, I had to admit it quelled some of my fears. It was a reminder that I hadn't faded into the darkness of the night as just another shadow. It was a reminder that I was alive, that my heart continued to beat, that I was still human.

I rounded another corner and stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. I held my breath as I hesitantly reached out. I resisted the urge to yank my hand back and instead proceeded, turning the metal door knob, which surprisingly was unlocked. My hand slipped on the cool metal several times, still slippery from the sweat coated onto my skin, but I managed to turn the latch. Slowly, I pressed my palm to the door and watched with a mixture of emotions as the door creaked open to reveal a small, familiar room.

I knew the room well, I'd even seen it in my dreams a few times. There was a small, circular table in the corner with two empty chairs. The one on the left—the one that used to be mine—looked lonely, collecting dust from being unused.

I was actually slightly surprised that it was still there. I had thought Keru would have removed it when he had sent me away. See, there used to be four chairs—one for Mom, one for Dad, one for me, and one for Keru. When Mom left, her chair was removed, leaving three chairs. Dad's chair had only recently been removed when he died.

That's why I'd thought he would have removed my chair too, because after all, he _had_ abandoned me, and as far as he cared I was probably going to stay in that place forever, so why would he want a reminder of me? But then again, I doubted he would waste that much effort on his little sister. After all, after what he did, he might as well have disowned me. At least, that's what I considered it as.

I slowly stepped into the room, leaving the door wide open behind me. Dust was collecting in the corners of the room. It looked as though Keru had not used the room for a long time. What the hell? Dad worked hard to pay rent for this old thing. Why was Keru not taking care of it? He may have not cared for me, but I was certain he held at least a little bit of feeling for Dad.

Besides, it wasn't Dad who was crazy. I mean, Dad could see spirits, he told me that much, but it wasn't he who could touch them. Dad told me spirits were evil. He told me I wasn't allowed to talk to them, that they were dangerous. He told me to just ignore them.

And I tried. I really did. I tried as hard as I could, but it was a lot harder than it seemed. I had a hard time differencing between spirits and humans—they looked the same to me—and so I did not know which I could talk to and which I couldn't. The only way I could tell was if the people around me shot me strange looks and distanced themselves from me.

And so I eventually gave up and didn't talk to anyone except Keru and Dad. By the time my shamanic abilities had shown themselves in me, Mom had already left. I ended up alone. It was so lonely, and sometimes it got so bad that I slipped up. Sometimes I would talk to the spirits around me. They were the only company I had. But once, Dad caught me talking to them in my room. He got really panicked and slapped me. That was the only time he hit me. He told me that they were evil, and that people who talked to them were evil too. At the time, I was confused. Did that mean I was evil too? He told me to stay away from the spirits. I promised not to talk to them anymore. I didn't like seeing Daddy upset.

For a while, I did. When I was lonely, I instead talked to my stuffed animals. My favorite was this one Koala bear. But when Dad suddenly passed away, I couldn't keep my promise to him anymore. Keru got real depressed and I had no one to talk to. So I turned to the spirits. I didn't understand why Daddy hated them. They were nice to me. They comforted me and were nicer than any non-family member ever was to me. All the kids at school hated me. They were scared because they'd seen me talking to a 'no one'. I didn't understand. Why could they not see spirits?

The day Daddy died was the day I learnt that shamans were lesser than humans. As Daddy had taught me, shamans were evil. So that meant I was too. But humans were normal. They were good.

I was stressed. So, I talked to Keru about it. Since Dad was gone, I'd had no one to talk to about my ghost-seeing abilities. I thought that since Keru was my brother, he'd understand. I thought he wouldn't shun me like everyone else did.

But I was wrong.

He thought I was crazy. He called the mental hospital and they came and picked me up. They said I was traumatized. They said I was depressed and it was because I had seen Daddy die of tuberculosis. They said I needed help coping and that me 'seeing stuff that wasn't there' was only a temporary state of schizophrenia or whatever they called it, that they could heal.

They were wrong. They didn't know what they were talking about. I'd been seeing spirits long before Daddy had died. Sure, I was depressed, but I was fine coping by myself. I didn't need medication. I didn't need needles in my arm. I didn't need to be locked inside a white room and be monitored day after day with the same bland meals. I wasn't allowed outside. I wasn't allowed anywhere by myself. I wasn't even allowed to go to the bathroom by myself. They said they allowed visitors, but it wasn't like anyone came.

I didn't need that kind of treatment. I wasn't a freak. I didn't belong in the nut house.

I was terrified of them. I hated the men in white coats. I hated the needles in their hands. I hated the nurses that came with medication. I hated the therapist man with a fake smile that always asked me the same questions every day. And most of all, I hated my brother for condemning me to this fate.

I did not hate my fellow patients. Some of them were a bit crazy, in fact some of them were very crazy, but I grew a bit fond of some of them as well. I remembered this one dark-haired boy, Daisuke. He was eight years old—two years older than me—and he also saw spirits. He'd been in the mental hospital since he was five. And so he became my first friend. By that time, I'd already established that friendship was stupid because people were bound to betray you some time, but I couldn't help it. He was the only one I had been able to relate too. We could both see spirits.

And he told me everything. He taught me about shamans and spirits and oversouls and shamanic abilities. He told me shamans were supposed to have guardian ghosts. I saw him as more of a brother figure than my own brother. Daisuke understood me, and I understood him.

Then, one day, I told him about the book Mom gave me before she left. I'd taken it to the mental hospital with me. It was one of the few things I had been allowed to take, besides my Koala toy. I didn't want Keru to have the only thing I had left to remember Mom. I mean, it wasn't like I liked Mom at all, but if she ever came back, at least I would have something to black-mail her with.

So that day, Daisuke and I snuck out of our rooms and met up. We weren't supposed to have unmonitored contact with others, so it was difficult to find time to converse. I opened the book for the first time with Daisuke looking over my shoulder. The letters were funny looking, but I could read it. It was like it was just natural. I'd never seen any language like it, but I could read it even better than I could read Japanese. I understood every single word in print. But when I asked Daisuke about it, he just looked at me funny and said all he saw was a blank page. Then Daisuke and I got into a fight over who was seeing what they were supposed to be seeing, and we stopped talking to each other.

But even without Daisuke, I had now opened the book, and now I was curious. I began to read it in my room every day. We were given a lot of free time to just lounge around and be bored, so it didn't take long for me to finish the book, even though it was pretty thick. I read every word on the pages and looked at every single picture. I analyzed and memorized every page to the very last word. It was the only thing I could do while locked up in there. It brought my mind off Daddy's death, Keru's betrayal, and the depressing thought that perhaps I would never escape from here.

The doctors were not cruel or anything, in fact, they were rather kind. But the needles. I hated the needles. Every time they came to inject something I would thrash around wildly. The medication made me drowsy and uncoordinated. I hated the feeling it gave me. I knew I didn't need it, and the only thing it did was make me high.

When they'd said I was traumatized, they were right. But it wasn't my father's death that had traumatized me, it was them. It was my time at the mental hospital that had scarred me and been the star of my nightmares ever since I'd first arrived there.

And then it happened. It was my two month anniversary at the mental hospital when I planned my escape. The Book was the thing that granted me my freedom. It was packed with spells—not magic, no, but shaman spells. They were like rituals. Furyoku was required to cast them.

I practiced in my room. I'd already memorized everything in the book so all I had to do was perform the spells until I mastered them. I started with the small ones first and then the bigger ones. The smaller ones I could do easily, but they were not nearly as useful as the bigger ones. But the bigger ones sapped my Furyoku from me. I'd always had a low Furyoku, so it was hard. Sometimes after casting a really big one, I'd faint on the spot. But I tried not to do it often, because I afraid of dying or being put into a coma. I'd heard from Daisuke that using too much Furyoku could kill someone. I wanted to make sure that that someone was not going to be me.

Finally, I deemed myself ready and cast a fire spell. The hospital began to burn and I used a barrier spell to protect myself from the flames. I didn't want to used too much furyoku, so I refrained from using a spell that would teleport or make me run faster, and settled for the good-old-fashioned hit-and-run technique.

But someone had seen me leaving and called other people to catch me. They thought I'd set it on fire. Well, it wasn't like I would tell them this, but they were right.

And that was how I ended up running down the alleys until I reached my house, or rather, Keru's house now.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and footsteps running into the room where I stood. I froze in my spot. This was not how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to be quick and easy. Keru was supposed to be asleep when I did it. That way he could not run.

"Who are you?" I heard my brother yell.

The light was not on, but my eyes were used to the dark. I was like a cat—I did not need light to be able to see. I did not answer him. I could care less if he knew who I was. Heck, I doubted he even remembered me.

"Keiko?" he whispered. Shock flittered across his face. Oh, I guessed I was wrong. He _did _remember me.

I took a cautious step back as his arm rose, reaching out to me. Like hell I would let him touch me.

"Keiko? Is that you?" he mumbled. He stumbled closer, almost like a drunk man, but instead he seemed to be drunk on sleep.

As he came closer, I tensed. I narrowed my eyes at him. He wouldn't dare try anything funny, would he? He's already lost my trust though, so who knew what he would do now?

"Why are you here?" he asked. "I missed you."

And for the first time since he entered the room, I noticed the dark purple circles under his eyes, and the way he staggered like he hadn't slept properly for days. I noticed the way his ribs showed through his skin and the way he looked too pale to be healthy. I noticed that haunted look on his face, that guilty glint in his eyes and the way he reached out to me like he really did miss me. Like he needed me and he really did care about me.

I quickly shook my head, dispersing those thoughts instantly. He was a liar. He had fooled me once and he wouldn't fool me again.

I felt rage building up in me as he stumbled even closer. A smirk curled my lips up as I thought of my revenge. Oh yes…revenge. Finally…I would be able to get back at him.

I waited for him like a cat watching their pray, waiting for the right moment to pounce. Just a few more steps…oh just a bit more….

Now!

My arm snapped up, my palm pressing against the center of his chest. "Mi ho au tsu kagorut mi amors! I command thy soul to leave thy body!" I yelled. I pushed my palm into his chest with more force this time.

My eyes danced with fascination as a big ball of blue light emerged from Keru's back. The ball fluttered through the air aimlessly, like a firefly in the night. It was beautiful—more beautiful than it should have been. I hated my brother. It didn't feel right that he should have such a beautiful soul. After all, weren't the souls of bad people supposed to be ugly?

I watched with glee as Keru's mouth hung open and his eyes rolled into the back of his sockets. His knees wobbled before collapsing under his weight. He toppled to the floor like a broken marionette. He deserved this.

I held out my hand and waited for the blue ball of light to float into my palm. I cackled and curled my fingers around it. I loved the feeling of power, of control. I was in complete control of Keru's life now. I could kill him, I could save him, I could cripple him…I could do anything I wanted with him.

I eyed the ball in my hand with a feeling of excitement. I didn't know what to do with him. Oh, all the possibilities!

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. Oh, how perfect. It would take a significant amount of furyoku—enough to make me pass out—but it would be worth it. Heck, anything would be worth it. I couldn't wait to see the expression on his face when he realized what I'd done to him.

Slowly, I knelt on my knee and placed the glowing ball on the floor in front of me. I pulled a piece of chalk from my pocket and drew a diagram on the floor around Keru's spirit. This ritual was rather complicated. I hadn't tested this one out yet, but I was confident about my skills.

I stepped away from the diagram and surveyed my diagram. I double-checked the lines using the book—of course I'd brought it with me. When I'd finished preparing, I sat down at the edge of the circle, closed my eyes, and brought my hands together, interlacing my fingers and bringing them in front of my face in a prayer like position.

"Kugatsu ha yuan de pedorita migo," I whispered. The diagram on the floor began to light up, and the circles I had drawn began to rotate on the floor. It was working! I was finally going to get my revenge! "With the blessing of the god of animal spirits, this poor, unfortunate soul shall now take the form of the Australian Koala."

I kept my eyes tightly shut, ignoring the sickening cracks and screams. I didn't know what was going on, and quite frankly I didn't want to know either. I flinched, feeling a drop of warm liquid splatter onto my cheek.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and to my absolute horror, I saw Keru's decapitated head staring straight at me. His eyes were so scary. His pupils were small and his eyes wide. Those purple rings beneath them were accentuated against his pale skin. His eyes bore deep into my soul. A shiver crawled down my spine. It was horrifying.

I screamed and jumped back, falling back onto my hands. I felt something beneath my left hand and slowly brought it up to my frightened, wide eyes.

A bloody hand.

I let out another blood-curdling scream and tried to stand up, but felt my legs weaken beneath me. That's right, the spell had sapped my strength. I fell to the ground, landing with a splash in some liquid. I felt some splatter on my cheek and brought my finger to it, brushing the drop.

Blood.

I breathed heavily, my heart beat faster than healthy. What was going on? Why was Keru's body sprawled across the floor in different parts?

I was scared.

"Keru?" I whimpered softly. "Where are you?" I closed my eyes, trying to block out the gory scene of the blood splattered room with crimson puddles and torn body parts, but as soon as my eyes closed, the blackness behind my lids became the image of that decapitated head staring at me.

I screamed again. "Go away! Go away! Go away!" I shrieked, clutching my head in my hands. The image remained in my head though. I could not get rid of it. "Just leave me alone!" Those wide eyes staring right through me. Those fearful eyes capturing that look of fear and remorse would not stay out of my mind.

I crawled on my knees, desperate to get away from the scene. I thought that maybe if I got away, I would be able to rid my mind of the image. But crawling was too slow, and I had to get away. I couldn't do this any longer.

So, I stood and ran. I stumbled and tripped, covered head-to-toe in fresh blood—Keru's blood. The thought nauseated me. I was so dizzy.

Suddenly, my legs collapsed underneath me and I was falling, falling so fast. The last I could remember seeing was the corner of the table approaching fast and the faster, and then a sharp pain, and then it went all black.

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a Koala spirit. At first, I mistook it as my favorite stuffed animal. But then I remembered the night before, and remembered Keru. I tried to shake the image of his eyes out of y head but I couldn't. So instead I just ignored it, got out of bed and acted normal.

And that was how I ended up living on the streets, stealing to live, and with Keru as my spirit. I used spirits for my dirty work. It was easy to steal and not get caught when the spirits were on your side.

And that was how Mikihisa found me one year later, when I was seven. He saw me with the spirits and brought me to the Asakura household. I became an apprentice like Tamao—that little bitch. I remembered hating her from the first moment I saw her. She did two things wrong.

1: She had pink hair.

2: She was trying to steal Yoh from Anna. And that was an absolute no-no with me, because Anna quickly became my favorite person there, quickly followed behind by Yoh.

I left when I was nine. Why? Well, I was just bored of them. And I didn't want any bonds, neither did I want to leave any unfinished threads behind that could reappear later in my life. But I had to—I didn't know how else to leave. I went back to living on the streets then. I stole enough from a group of rich people and booked a flight to America, where I got my run-down abandoned house i n the desert. I flew back to Tokyo for the shaman fight a few years later, and then came right back.

_Bang!_

I jumped, startled, jolted back to the present. I snapped my head around, confused. What was that, a gunshot? Where had it come from?

I shook the memories from my mind and stood, leaving the dead boy's body behind me.

I looked up at the bright light in front of me. What was with all these bright lights nowadays?

I squinted into the light, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Eventually, they did, and boy was I surprised when I saw what it was.

There was a group of strangely dressed men, all in white. They all had funny shaped guns. In front of them, a huge, gigantic Thing-That-Looks-Like-A-Pokémon-With-A-Beehive- Dress-On loomed over Yoh and his group.

"What the hell is that?" I asked to no one in particular. I grimaced the ugly beehive skirt thing it had on. "What is this, the Bee Movie?" I snorted. "Sure, I love honey, but seriously, that thing is_ uuuuuugly_."

* * *

End of Chapter 12.

Review please.

What do you think of Keiko's past?

Boring? (I fell asleep re-reading it) Confusing? Cliche?

Yeah, sorry, I know it's mary-sueish but I have a tendency to do that so...yeah, sorry.

But review anyway! I want to know what you guys are thinking!

-Cookie Krisp


	13. XLaws

**Author's note**: I apologize for the long wait, but Chapter 13 of Cracked Open is finally here! Yeah, sorry about that, I had writer's block. No really, I actually had this typed up a while ago but I didn't want to upload it because I thought it was so bad. today, I decided to finally do something useful and proofread it, but it's still pretty boring. And yeah, there's no fluff in this chap so if you want romance your gonna have to wait till the next chapter. I tried to squeeze it in but that made the chapter too long so yeah... Just read it.

Okay, this chapter might be bad because I really don't know what the heck I wrote. So yeah, bear with me. I don't even know if it makes any sense. Sorry. :(

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shaman King. Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei.

* * *

Chapter 13:

I stood, wide-eyed, just staring at the weird men in the distance. I wanted to get closer, but perhaps that wasn't the greatest idea. I was kind of afraid I would catch the 'weirdness' disease they seemed to have going on over there.

It was a group of…I don't know—eight or nine?—men, and one woman hidden in the ranks. They all wore these elaborate white outfits that must have been hard to get on and off. Sheesh, how long did it take them to go to the bathroom?

Never mind, I didn't want to know. That was a disturbing picture.

Just by looking at them from the distance, I could already pick out their leader. It was this one man with lemony-yellow hair that's bright color blinded me. He also wore glasses. They were wide and square-shaped, the kind that wouldn't let people see your eyes beneath it.

Wow, I just thought of something. What if the reason he had glasses was because his hair was so bright it made him go blind?

I squinted harder at him. If only his hair stood straight up and curled at the top like a swirly twig…he would look like an alien.

An alien, huh? Well, you never know…he_ could_ be one.

The ugly white spirit/oversoul/monster thing in front of them was also blinding. No, really, it hurt just to look at it. I had to put an arm in front of my eyes just so I wouldn't go blind. But I wasn't so sure if it hurt my eyes because it was so ugly, or if it was because the light that emitted from it seemed so "I am holy but evil and superior to thou" like, that I was blinded by it.

The white monster thing, along with its weird bee skirt thing, also had these weird, mutated, beetle claw things that stuck out from its shoulder. Staring at it, I couldn't decide whether they were gigantic shoulder blades, pointy rockets, or beetle pincers. Either I was very indecisive, or these people were bad at making their spirits look cool.

Or maybe it was both. …Yeah, it was probably both.

"Wow, and I thought I was weird," I muttered to myself. "Actually, why am I talking to myself?" I tilted my head to the side in wonder. "Oh well, it doesn't really matter. Maybe I am shock or something. I mean, a dead body did fall out of the sky and land on top of me a few minutes ago."

I chuckled to myself. "But really, these people take the cake for being the weirdest." I paused, frowning. "Hey wait, why do _they_ get the cake? _I_ want the cake! Oh wait, never mind, I'll just take the pie. They can take the cake any day."

"Master?" Keru suddenly said.

I jumped, startled. Oops, I'd long since forgotten about him. My smile morphed into a glower. "What?" I snapped angrily.

Okay, I admit I'd already given up on making me address him first when he spoke, because he never really listened to me anyway, since all my threats were empty and he knew it. Besides, I'd decided that if some evil kidnapper dude snuck up behind me, Keru should be able to warn me before I got my head chopped off by some psycho. So yeah, I hoped he was grateful that I was letting him talk on his own now.

"You're rambling," he stated.

I glared at him. "Yeah…well…well…" I floundered for a good comeback. "Well, you're stupid!" I finally decided, jabbing my index finger at him.

He stayed silent, but for some reason it kind of felt like he was silently laughing at me. Maybe I _am _telepathic, you know.

"Um…Maybe I should go over to Yoh now," I said thoughtfully.

I scampered stealthily over to where they stood, not too far from where I had been. I glanced warily back at the corpse, wondering if the weird people dressed in white had been the ones to kill him. Now that I thought about it, he looked a bit familiar. Was he the dude that started attacking Yoh and the others right when I started walking away?

Turning back to Yoh's group, I quickly closed the distance between us and jumped behind a rock. Why a rock? Well, I didn't want to get involved in any sort of fight, so what better thing to do than hide?

This time, I remembered Keru. I checked to make sure he was still there, and he was, floating around above me. And—oh crap he was above the top of the rock. God, did he have to float so high up? This rock was frickin' huge, I swear! It was like a mini pillar almost. There was enough room to float about _without _revealing my hiding place. God, people could see him!

Well, at least,_ shamans_ could, anyways.

"Get down," I hissed at him. "People can see you."

To my surprise, he obeyed. Yes! Point one for Keiko! Someone actually listened to me! Granted it was my spirit/brother, but who cared? I was so tired of everyone ignoring me that it kind of felt good to have _someone_ heed my command. Oh whoops, there's my bossy nature coming into play.

I stared at Yoh's back, peeking out from behind the big rock. He seemed to be in a daze, but then again, so did everyone else. They were all staring with wide-eyes and small pupils at the men in white. What the heck? Maybe they _were_ aliens after all.

"Psst, Yoh," I hissed loudly, but only loud enough to reach Yoh, who was standing right in front of the rock I hid behind. I mean, what would be the point of hiding if I just yelled out and pointed out my existence?

Yoh snapped out of his weird, daze-like state and looked around, bewildered. "Huh?" He scratched his cheek, confused. "Did someone call my name?" he mumbled quietly.

I glared at him. I didn't want anyone else to know I was there. Just Yoh. Because you know, it's kind of obvious that I was there if everyone was looking at me, and I was sure that was what everyone would be doing when they noticed me.\

"Yoh," I hissed louder this time. I felt my patience thinning. I never was a very patient person.

He frowned. "I could've sworn I heard someone—

"Yoh!" I cut him off, reaching around the large side of the rock—or rather, boulder—and smacking his leg. What? I would have smacked his head but I was kneeling on my knees, and I was not exactly tall to begin with.

Quickly, I retracted my hand and resumed my hiding position.

This time, Yoh turned toward where I sat and tilted his head to the side. "Huh?" he muttered. "Am I imagining that or did that just sound like Keiko?"

"Oh my god, Yoh is so stupid!" I grumbled to myself. I sighed and rubbed my temples. God, I hated stupid people. So troublesome.

Peering around the side of the boulder, I stuck my head back out, glanced cautiously from side to side, and seeing that no one was looking, I continued and stuck my arm out, tugging on the bottom of Yoh's pants.

If he didn't notice me now, he was officially the dumbest person I had ever met.

Yoh's head snapped from side to side, confusion marring his face. "Huh?"

I smacked my face to my palm. What an idiot!

Sighing, I shook my head and poked my head out _again _from the boulder. "Down here," I hissed.

Yoh's head immediately snapped down to me. I fixed him with an irritated look, to which he just smiled sheepishly at and rubbed the back to his head. What could I say? Once an idiot, always an idiot.

"Sorry," he apologized, chuckling nervously. He gazed down at me, still befuddled. "But what are you doing?"

I frowned at him. "Hiding." I rolled my eyes and motioned to the boulder that hid everything except my head. "Duh."

"Oh," he said. "From what?"

I glared at him. "Um, the evil people in white. What else could I be hiding from?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Me?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "First of all, you aren't scary. Second of all, why the heck would I have been trying to get your attention if I was hiding from you?"

"Didn't think of that," he said, scratching his cheek.

I stared at him dully. "You never think of anything. Scratch that. You don't think at all."

He shrugged again, and it became silent. Just me and him staring at each other.

"…You're boring," I finally said.

He chuckled. "You always used to say that when I would drag you out to go watch the river flow when we were kids."

"Well, it was boring!" I retorted stubbornly, a pout on my lips.

"Yoh?" Horohoro asked, staring at Yoh oddly. I jumped ,startled. Oh man, we were talking too loud! "Who are you talking to?"

Hastily, I ducked back behind the rock, hoping not to be seen. Oh god, please don't let Yoh tell him, please don't let Yoh tell him, please don't let Yoh—

"Oh, I'm talking to Keiko."

I dropped my head in my hands and groaned loudly, now not even caring who heard me. My god, sometimes I wished I could send telepathic signals to people.

"Keiko?" Horohoro asked, looking at the boulder I hid behind. And yes, the boulder was so big he could not see over it. Why do you think I chose it?

I groaned again. "What?"

"She's hiding," Yoh informed Horohoro, gesturing towards the rock.

"From what?" Horohoro asked skeptically.

"The X-laws."

My head snapped up. "X-Laws?" I asked.

"Yeah," they both replied in unison. I couldn't see them from behind the rock (I was leaning with my back against it) but I assumed they were both nodding their heads. Stupid unison.

"Who are they?" I pondered, confused.

"I don't know," Horohoro spat angrily. What the heck? Mood swing, much? "They just appeared out of nowhere and murdered that dude." He growled. "Dammit, we could've handled him on our own!"

"Hey, wait a second," I said, frowning. My brain began to piece things together. Oh boy, it's a miracle. My brain was actually functioning! "Was it this dude with seaweed colored hair wearing a ruffled tie and a blue suit thingy?"

The image of the boy's wide, dead eyes filled my mind, and I winced. Ugh. Gee thanks, creepy X-Law aliens. Now I was going to have nightmares.

"Oh yeah. His name was Ashiru, I think. That bastard Hao sent him," Horohoro said, surprised. "How did you know?" He paused and I imagined he was frowning thoughtfully. "And where were you, anyways?" he finished, suspicion tainting his tone.

I grimaced. A spark of anger flared in the back of my mind as I glowered at the memory of the scene before I'd stomped off, blinded by anger. Oh great, so _now_ they noticed that I was gone, after all that time. What great friends they were! Can you taste my sarcasm?

But what could I tell them? I didn't want to tell them the truth, so that was out. Hm….I could tell them I went on a walk. Nah, who in their right mind would go on a walk in the desert when it was a billion degrees out? Hm….

Hey, wait a minute! I never told them _when _I jumped behind the rock! Ooooh, this was so perfect!

"Well," I said, hesitantly. "I wanted to take a nap, but since you and Ren were arguing, I couldn't because you guys were so loud. So I came over here, behind this rock because it was shady. I fell asleep and I woke up to this loud boom and this dead body flying over my head. It landed over there," I paused, pointing to where the dead body was, "and I ran over there to see what it was. And then I was all like 'OMG! Dead body!', and then I saw the big beehive skirt monster thingy and men in white and ran back over here to hide from them."

Wow, that was a long story. But it was convincing. At least, I thought it was, anyways.

"Oh," Yoh said shortly.

"Wow, you must be a heavy sleeper not to have heard us fighting that seaweed-head dude," Horohoro observed. "Oh yeah, and there was also this football dude," he paused, looking around for something, but then frowned, "but I don't know where he went."

I froze, hoping Yoh wouldn't remember exactly how _light _of a sleeper I really was. If he did, well, there went my whole alibi.

"Hmm…" Yoh mumbled to himself. I could almost feel his gaze boring through the rock and into the back of my head. He knew I was lying, but just wasn't saying anything. I wasn't sure whether I was glad about that or not. Yoh was very good at deducing things, regardless of how many times I called him stupid. Man, he was way too perceptive. He should have been a psychologist, not a shaman. Yep, that seemed to fit him better.

I gulped. Aw man, I think I just got caught in the middle of a lie. Oh well, it didn't seem like Yoh was going to call me out on it until we were alone, so at least _that _was good.

"You!" a man's voice yelled.

I gasped and jumped, surprised. "What the hell?" I muttered to myself, breathing deeply, trying to calm m y heart. "Why is everyone just popping out of nowhere, today?"

Yoh and Horohoro turned away from me and towards whoever just yelled. They're expressions instantly morphed into glares. Were they PMSing or were they just very mad at whoever he was?

"Listen!" the man roared again. Wow, he was very annoying. If I were them , I would glare at him too. Bitch.

I exhaled slowly and sat up on my knees, poking my head out from behind the boulder. The man who had been apparently scolding Yoh and Horohoro for what probably looked like "talking to a rock", was the lemon-haired leader.

I seriously had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing when he lowered his chin and pushed up his glasses, because it looked so stereotypical.

But, I still thought he looked kind of like an alien. Or someone from Star Wars. Whatever. Point is, he looked ridiculous.

He cleared his throat and refocused my attention on him. "Evil has no choice but to vanish in the light of justice," he spoke. I released a very unladylike snort and almost suffocated myself trying to hold back my laughter.

Suddenly, my laughter ceased, and with that sudden change, came an intense urge to start mocking him. Making fun of people and finding loop-holes in their speeches was the highest form of entertainment for me, even in my childhood years. Maybe it wasn't the most polite thing to do, but hey, since when did I ever care about manners?

"Evil?" I muttered under my breath. "_What_ evil? Are they talking about pink or Hao? I mean, pink is certainly much more evil, but they don't have secret pink radars, or else it would've gone wild the second I appeared."

And besides, they hadn't pointed their guns at me and screamed "kill the pink thing" yet, and quite unfortunately, I also hadn't received a notice about Tamao's execution either. That stunk, I really wanted her to die. So maybe they _were_ talking about Hao.

I frowned to myself, continuing in my random musings. "Well, if justice is considered light, and evil is considered shadows," I paused to think, "then that must mean that there is no evil without justice, because there are no shadows without light. Which also means that justice is the reason for evil."

Yep, trust me to use logic everywhere.

Actually, why the heck was I talking out loud? I paused to think about that, but when the only answer I could come up with was that I was crazy, I just shrugged it off and continued my entertainment.

Tapping my chin in thought, I recalled the exact words of the man. I didn't have extraordinary memory skills, but he'd only said the words a couple of seconds ago. It just seemed to me that it was a much longer time—probably because of all that mumbo-jumbo stuff going on in my mind. My mind was a strange place. Believe me, you don't want to go there.

Hm… _Evil has no choice but to vanish in the light of justice ,_he'd said. Not a lot of words to work with, but surely there was some kind of retarded metaphor or loop-hole I could stick my nose into and privately laugh my ass off at.

My eyes lit up. Oh! I found one.

I giggled quietly at my next thoughts. "Wow, you people are _so_ stupid. Maybe if you'd just go away and stop making people angry with your stupid, boring speeches, the evilness you are trying to kill will go away. I mean, you might as well be pie, only pie is ten times better than you, and therefore you cannot be pie. But anyways, the point is, well, no not the one on Ren's head or on one of the spikes in Horohoro's hair, but that the more pie there is, the more people there are. Why? Well, the pie attracts more people. The pie is justice and the people are evil. Do you see the connection? That's just like how the more light there is, the more shadows there are," I said this all in one breath, but that really wasn't such a big surprise seeing as I always rambled to myself when no one was listening, and I had a big mouth anyways.

I wondered if anything I'd just said made sense. Well, it made sense in my _head,_ but that didn't mean it made sense to anyone else.

I shrugged. Oh well. It wasn't like anyone was actually listening to me. At least, I didn't think they were.

I made sure to speak quietly so the man wouldn't hear me, and I really didn't care if Horohoro or Yoh heard, because they probably weren't listening anyways. Besides, they always ignored me when I had something to say that I _wanted_ them to know, so why would they listen when I had something to say that I _didn't_ want or need them to hear?

Horohoro choked.

What, did he choke on his saliva? Or maybe he choked on the air, yeah I remember doing that once.

Glancing over at him curiously, I found that he was in fact, not choking on air or saliva, but instead choking on his laughter. He struggled to contain his laughter before giving up and just covering it was a loud fit of hacking.

"What's so funny?" I hissed at him, confused. Hey, if there was something _that_ funny that he started laughing in the middle of what most people considered a "super serious, I go all angsty and heroic and stuff" moment, but what I considered a "laugh out loud at other people's stupid expressions and speeches" moment, then I wanted to know what it was, because it was _definitely_ worth knowing. If it was _that_ funny, I'd probably be able to get a laugh out of it for a whole _month._

Horohoro glanced at me with tears in his eyes. "You," he said, still snickering, but this time more quietly.

I shot a hurt look at him. "Me?" I whispered, slightly offended. "Does my face look that funny to you, or are you just on crack?"

He struggled to muffle a loud snort with the coat of his sleeve. "No, not your _face. _What you _said,"_ he clarified.

Oh. I didn't think anyone was listening.

I glanced at Yoh. Well, either Horohoro was the only one who found my thoughtless ramblings hilarious, or Yoh was just plain not listening. And what the heck? So Horohoro listened to me rambling pointless things that just popped into my head like annoying advertisement pop-ups on computers, but he didn't listen to me when I yelled at him and Ren to shut up?

Seriously, this world was messed-up.

I think the pink did that to it. Pink is very evil like that.

"What I said…?" I repeated, mostly to myself. "What was so funny?" I asked, confused. I frowned. "I was being completely serious."

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, trying to hide the fact that he was still talking to "a rock". "…Never mind."

I frowned at him, but shrugged it off. Whatever. He was a weird kid, but he also had really weird hair (come on, it was blue!) so I guessed that was to be expected.

"_Oookay_ then," I said to myself. "That was weird." Another thought popped into my head. I just blurted it out thoughtlessly. "Wow, I say weird a lot. But that's okay because weird is good, because weird is different, which is unique, which is good. But strange is bad, because strange means odd, which means out-of-place, which means alien, which is not good at all. Oh wait, I just called the creepy X-law aliens over there bad. Oh well, they can't hear me so there's no harm in saying something bad if they can't hear you," I rambled aimlessly, falling hopelessly off track. Heck, I couldn't even remember what I was talking about in the first place.

Horohoro snorted again.

"Oh, and Horohoro, I know you are listening and laughing at me right now, but really you should shut up because the lemon-haired alien man in white is glaring at you and trying to make you combust with his eyeballs, just like how I tried to do to that one garbage can that tripped me when I was walking down the street trying to pick-pocket this one really fugly rich dude and his obese, sumo-wrestler girlfriend of his."

His mouth instantly clamped shut.

The leader man began to speak again. Oh great, more material to use for useless rambling and mocking. Mocking people was fun. Much funner than sitting behind a big boulder and counting the grains of sand on the desert ground. Oops, funner is not a word. It should have been 'more fun'. Actually, why did I even care? I dropped out of school a long time ago, and even though the Asakuras made me home schooled, why the hell did I even care about grammar?

Believe me, grammar suddenly seems a lot less important when you realize you are entering a tournament that could potentially get you killed and get your secret book revealed to Hao all at the same time.

"We are the messengers of justice who will destroy the source of all evil, Hao. We are the X-laws," the leader X-law man said.

I gasped. "What!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice, keeping my voice low to avoid people hearing me. "Pink is the source of all evil! Not Hao! You people give too much credit to Lego Man." I pouted. "And what is up with their name, anyway? Does it mean that they get rid of all laws? Because if it does, that's really messed-up because I thought they were supposed to be justice."

"We saw how you fought," the man continued, happily oblivious to my mocking of their name. If he knew, he'd probably be trying to execute me. Which was precisely why he _didn't_ know- if that made any sense. I liked my life very much, thank you. "The pure furyoku you people possess is something we would proudly welcome. That power shall become a holy sword that will destroy Hao if you join us." He paused, raising his hand as if to offer a deal. "Let us fight Hao together!"

I rolled my eyes. What a foolish man. "Yeah, let us all commit suicide together," I muttered sarcastically. Fighting Hao was like jumping off a cliff. Kind of tempting, but definitely not worth it. The way Hao wouldn't kill you would be if you had something he wanted.

But even if I _did_ have something Hao wanted, which I did, I wouldn't fight him. No way. I mean, I had the Book and I knew he wanted it, but no way was I in the least bit suicidal. He would probably take the book and then decapitate me. And that didn't sound like a lot of fun. At least, not to me, anyway. I wasn't too sure about Lyserg and stuff. He kind of seemed like the emo, masochist type.

I turned to look at Yoh. He'd been quiet for a while now.

His head was dropped, his gaze on the ground. His dark brown bangs fell and cast a black shadow over his eyes, obscuring them from my vision.

I furrowed my brow in concern. Oh no! He wasn't brooding was he? I really didn't need another Lyserg to deal with. One was already _way_ too many. Heck, .0000001 of a Lyserg was too many. If I ever became Shaman Queen- which was unlikely seeing as I failed at having a high furyoku and being kickass and stuff- I promised myself I'd get rid of pink _and _angsty, brooding emo's like Lyserg.

Yep, that was my idea for making the world a better place. Eliminate the nuisances and certainly the good stuff, like pie, would prevail. I was sure that was all everyone needed. After all, pie was enough to keep me content, so why not everyone else too? Unless, of course, they were allergic to pie. In that case, they are official enemies of pie and therefore must be eliminated immediately.

Maybe Hao would be a bit less evil if he learned the vast importance of pie in the cycle of life. If he ever decided _not_ to kill me the moment I said something stupid, then maybe I would take him out for pie. Maybe that would enlighten him?

On second thought, probably not. If he didn't kill me for saying something stupid, he would kill me for either actually _bein_g stupid, or being weak. I would say I wasn't weak, but then I would be lying. I can't do anything without Keru, and I think he and I both know that. That is probably the only reason why I haven't drowned him in a bucket of pink hair dye yet. I swore, I had the lowest furyoku possible for a shaman—just barely enough to do an oversoul—and yet, I was able to easily beat three opponents in the preliminaries.

How? Well, you already know that Keru and I made a wonderful team. Oversouling with him cost me almost no furyoku, and his attacks were about the same. When we integrated it was like we were the same being, our movements and thoughts completely synced. I think my opponents all underestimated me after seeing my extremely low furyoku. That, or Keru was just a really powerful spirit. Actually, I think it was both. Keru really was powerful. It made him a good tool. Hey, at least now I knew he was good for _something._ He was a horrid brother, but I guess he made for a decent spirit. I've got to give him credit for _something_.

Another thought passed through my head, pushing the previous one out. A picture of an emo Yoh brooding next to an emo Lyserg filled my mind, quickly followed by the X-Laws cackling evilly as they hypnotized a random old person. What would happen if the X-laws tried to take over the planet by hypnotizing people into being emo? What if they used that strategy to make Hao an emo so that he would join their side? What if I was the last sane person on earth? What if they had banished _PIE_?

I frowned at the thought of me throwing Yoh off the face of Earth because these creepy X-Law people had brainwashed him into being another Lyserg, and decided that that was not a pleasant thought. Instead, I decided that if Yoh really did become another Lyserg, I would banish the evil alien X-Laws who messed up poor Anna-chan's fiancée. Yep, that sounded like a good plan.

But really, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do any of that. Oh Yoh. I sighed. Please don't go emo.

"…Did you kill him?" Yoh finally spoke, breaking me from my thoughts. His voice shook.

My frown deepened. Uh-oh. This wasn't looking too good.

"Yoh-kun?" Lyserg said uncertainly.

I poked my head out from behind the boulder and tried to make him vanish with the power of my death glare, but it didn't work. God, someone was as angsty as ever.

"We didn't kill him," the leader alien said.

I redirected my glare at him. _Noo_, of course they didn't. They just took out their evil gun things, summoned the even more evil beehive dress spirit thing, and shot a hole through some dude fighting Yoh's chest. Because that's not killing at all! Noo, it's just Satan's version of "Hello. Nice too meet you. Welcome to Death." See, it's not harmful at all. It's just like smiling and saying hello, only it's a lot less awkward because you know that you're only going to see the dude twice. Once being when you kill him, and the next in the afterlife.

I redirected my fiery glare towards the leader. If he uttered one more word, I was going to effin' jump out from behind the rock and maim him-

"We executed him."

The breath caught in my chest.

He smiled proudly.

Like it was the best thing he'd ever done in his life.

I swore I saw red.

"_What_!" I exclaimed, jumped out from behind the boulder. "What's the difference?" I spat. "Actually, don't answer that. There _is_ no difference! You guys are bloody murderers, so at least be as civilized as Hao and admit it, you psychos!"

One of the X-Law's snarled viciously, his hand rising with a gun in his grip. His brows were drawn together so hard I thought maybe he had a unibrow. His eyes were hard and cold and filled with fiery hatred. Whoa. Someone had anger problems.

Ignoring the surprised looks of I seemed to be getting from everyone other than Horohoro and Yoh (well, what do you know, they weren't talking to a rock), and decided that these X-law people really needed to be taught a lesson. It was about time they got whipped a bit.

I stared at the white gun pointed at my chest. "Oh, so you're going to execute me in the name of justice, now aren't you?" I said lightly, but mockery tainted my tone. I smiled innocently up at the men. "How are you going to justify killing someone for scolding you big bad cowards playing hero, huh?"

The man's finger hovered over the latch that would possibly kill me instantly. I would probably end up like that dead body dude—Ashiru?—from before. But at that moment, I didn't care. All I could see was the stupid men standing in front of me, trying to disregard killing someone as something that was good.

Killing was never good.

I didn't have many morals, but at least I knew that.

One could've said I'd killed Keru, I mean, I had turned him into a Koala spirit and ripped apart his body in the process. But it wasn't like I'd said I'd executed him because I was the light of angels and he was the devil, and therefore it was justice that I could just kill him and display that fact proudly to the world without even bothering to bury the dead body. Heck, no. That would be just so sick.

I smiled sickeningly sweetly at the man holding the gun. I raised my arms up, as if to say I surrendered. But really I was just beginning to wage a war with me on one side and all of the X-Laws on the other.

"Shoot me," I said, still smiling. I stared right into the eyes of the man, challenging him. "I dare you."

"Um…Master?" Keru suddenly interjected. "Perhaps this isn't the wisest thing to do."

I glared at him frostily. "Shut up. Go hide behind the rock or go back in your tablet—I don't care. Just go away. I don't need you right now."

And with that I turned my sharp gaze back to the man with the gun."Come on," I taunted, cocking my head to the side. "Shoot me. I know you can do it."

I watched with a sort of sick pleasure as the man begin to waver. His finger began to tremble over the gun. Ha! I intimidated him. What babies!

"Oh? You can't do it?" I cooed. I laughed loudly—mocking them. "Aw, that's too bad. And I was looking forward to it too…" I taunted.

The man began to sweat, a thick bead of perspiration slipping down his forehead and onto the dry, desert ground beneath him. He took a shaking step backward. Wow, was I really that scary to him?

The smirk on my face grew as the tension level between seemed to grow. The closer his finger got to the trigger, the wider my smirk grew. I knew I had a wild glint in my eyes—the same kind of glint I'd had when I lived in the streets as a child. I'd always been slightly sadistic. I enjoyed being in power, being in control. But I'd lost that feral part of me that loved to intimidate people long ago. And now it was coming back.

…Huh. Maybe I really was crazy. Inwardly, I shrugged. Did it really matter? I'd already been to a mental hospital once and I wasn't planning on going again. I hoped that when Hao became Shaman King he would eliminate all mental hospitals. Let's all forget the fact that once he obtained the Book (which, he does not know I have) he would probably kill me too, because I was a weak and useless shaman. Instead, let's all just focus on the good things, like how maybe Hao was actually a girl and therefore maybe he could make the Patch people evoke their stupid Shaman King sexist title because that was really grating on my nerves.

The man's gaze rose to my eyes. He froze. He was terrified, I could see that clearly when my eyes locked with his. I did not look away, no, I instead stared him down, looking right into his eyes, looking right into his soul. His eyes were wide and his pupils small. His soul trembled under my daring, taunting gaze.

"Come on," I sang, a smug smile on my face. I gestured for him to come closer. He stepped back. A frown marred my face. "Are you really that afraid? Of me?" I laughed and stepped closer to him, one step at a time. Closer and closer I drew, my feet thumping against the ground the only sound in the tense silence of the desert. I cocked my head to the side and smirked tauntingly. "You've done it before, haven't you? You've killed someone with that same gun many times before, so why can't you do it now?"

I was closing in on him now, only a few steps away. "You know," I began, my head still titled to the side, a sweet smile planted on my lips, "I really hate people like you, killing and then saying it's justice. Who do you think you are? Hitler? God? Well, you people sure as hell aren't god, at least, not with that kind of muck stuffed into your brains. Killing is always wrong, no matter the reason. And those spirits you have? Nu-uh, those aren't angels. They might as well be devils. After all, isn't that what devils do? Kill people?"

The man flinched. One more step and I would be able to reach out and touch him.

What a scaredy-cat. I guessed he'd never lived on the streets, or else he would've stood right up to me, knowing that all I was doing was bluffing. That's right, all I was doing was bluffing, because lying was what I did best.

Just one more step…

I lifted my foot and then my leg.

One more…

The seconds seemed to slow as I lowered my gaze down to his finger which was slowly, slowly moving, unlike the rest of his body, which seemed to have frozen in place. The trembling finger slowly began to draw closer to the trigger and then, just as I was sure he would pull it, he was stopped by an arm cutting in front of him and knocking the gun out of his hands.

"Stop. Do not get be blinded by anger. "

And that was all the needed to be said for my game be crashed to a halt right in at the climax of the thrill.

The man was stopped.

By the lemon-haired alien leader.

My confident smirk melted into an icy glower.

God, how I hated him.

"What the hell? Why'd you have to interrupt?" I snarled furiously. How dare he ruin my game! The thrill, the anticipation, the risk…oh, how much I had missed that feeling of adrenaline running through my veins! It had been so long…so long since I'd stolen, so long since I'd fought, so long since I'd felt my heart pounding in my chest and blood flowing through my veins. And he had ruined it! God damn him, I hoped he went to hell.

The lemon-haired leader ignored me.

I almost impaled him.

Okay, so I really was thinking about it, but- thank god for self-control—I managed to stop myself. But I knew that it wouldn't be long before he said something stupid, I snapped, and he went bye-bye. Actually, that sounded rather appealing, for him to go bye-bye, but I knew Yoh would be angry. And then everyone would be angry, and then I'd have to start traveling by myself again, and…yeah. Point is, I really shouldn't attack Mister I-Am-Holy-Not.

Even if I wanted to.

Really, really badly.

I frowned and closed my eyes in concentration. I breathed in and out, focusing on calming my mind. It was hard—this concentration business. My mind kept wandering back to my rage, back to my little game, back to the dark part of me that wanted to be out there maiming all those X-Laws with my fingernails. It was hard to stay away from the temptation. Huh, maybe I really did need anger management. Or maybe I'd be getting my period soon.

Or maybe those guys were just really, really annoying.

Yeah, I think it was that.

Opening my eyes, I decided it would be best if I kind of retreated. I wasn't giving up—there really wasn't anything _to _give up—I was just making sure I kept my distance so I didn't end up impaling the poor X-Law alien people after all.

I took a cautious step back, feeling the ground beneath my feet. I rolled onto the balls of my feet and bent my knees, leaning forward. Then, I pushed off, springing backwards into the air and landed gracefully beside Ren.

By the way, jumping is the only thing acrobatic that I can do. And th only reason I can do it is because it is a good tactic for running away, and running away is what I do when it looks like I'm going to lose. See, unlike some other people (coughYohcoughcough) I like my life, a lot. I may like toying with people and bluffing, but f that dude actually decided to pull the trigger I would've been out of there in a second.

Believe it or not, "dying" is not on my "things to do" list, and neither will it be anytime soon.

"Where _were _you?" Ren growled angrily at me, though he kept his eyes trailed on the X-Laws.

I ignored him, still seething at the lemon haired man with stupid, fugly glasses that he kept falling off his face. God, if they didn't fit, why the heck didn't he get new ones! It was effin' annoying me, and I had this really violent urge to punch his glasses so he would stop.

Wow, I didn't know I could be so violent. Okay, so maybe I did, but I didn't know I could get so worked up over a dead kid that worked for Hao. Now that I come to think of it, that dead Ashiru kid probably would have ended up dead soon anyways. Hao had a reputation for killing off members that didn't complete their task, which in this case seemed to be killing Yoh's companions.

Wow, if that was the case, it was a really good thing I wasn't there, because I probably would have been road kill the moment he showed up. No really, I was that bad at fighting. I stunk at physical things and the only thing I was good at was controlling plants and stuff, because that was what Keru did.

Oh—and I could also cast really powerful spells from my book but it really was not quite as awesome as Yoh's swordsman dude. I mean, my book couldn't become gigantic, and while Keru probably _could,_ I didn't want to risk him turning around and squishing me with his foot the moment he got big enough to do it. I wouldn't put it past him, you know. He had betrayed me before, you know. You know the saying. Once a traitor, always a traitor. Okay, so maybe I just maybe that up right now, but it fits, so ha-ha.

The lemon haired man, however, continued on with his stupid speech, completely unfazed by the fiery glare I was now willing him to die with. "Hao is an absolute evil that gives birth to corruption in this world. "

I growled at him. Like hell! Who was this dude, the king of retarded metaphors? Because I sure as heck knew that Hao wasn't a girl and couldn't give birth to non-materialized things. Or maybe he _was _a girl and that was why he looked gay to me. Who knew, the world was a strange place indeed.

"We have to pass judgment against Hao and those following him," he continued.

Well then, it was a real good thing Hao didn't have a puppy, because if he did, I would have to call the animal abuse center right now. That would be a poor puppy, you know. It would have a cruel master and evil aliens coming after it. Oh that reminds me. That sounds just like Opacho. Opacho was just like Hao's own personal puppy.

Oh man, I was really on a roll now. I really couldn't control my crazy, kind of witty thoughts that constantly whirled around in my mind. They were especially prominent when I was angry.

Like right now.

The man looked directly at Yoh. "We know that you're a descendant of Hao. But, you don't have to worry about it. "

I glanced a bit worriedly at Yoh. His bangs still shadowed his eyes. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was he angry or was he actually considering the offer?

"By fighting alongside us," he paused as if for effect. I looked back and forth between the X-law man and Yoh. Surely he wouldn't….would he? "That sin of yours will be—

"I refuse!"

I jumped, my eyes wide as I stared at Yoh in surprise. Had he really just…

Yoh's head snapped up. A fierce glare marred his usually calm features.

He had.

I shot a small smile of relief at him. I _knew_ he wouldn't agree! Yoh wasn't that kind of person. At least, I didn't _think_ he was.

But apparently the X-Laws thought differently.

The lemon-haired X-Law leader 's (man, I needed to know his name so I could stop calling him that) eyes hardened into a harsh look and his face was twisted in a displeasured frown. I silently applauded Yoh for making the X-Laws angry. They were so nonchalant about killing someone I thought nothing could get them angry. Okay, well maybe not that man who was going to shoot me, but yes, Lemon-haired leader was just that callous that he seemed kind of like a robot.

If that was the case, then maybe his only two functions were "drone on and on about justice while using demented figurative language constantly", and "push my glasses up my nose—wait, that sounding wrong. Not up his nostril, he only pushes it up the bridge of his nose". Maybe that was why he was so annoying.

He pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger.

See, what did I tell you about that glasses thing? Did he have A.D.D or something, and couldn't stop touching his glasses? Hey ,_wait_ a second, he pushed them up with his _middle finger_! Was he trying to discreetly flick me the finger?

"I suppose you need some time to think it over."

He turned, walking away. I was about to flip him the finger back when his back was turned, when he suddenly looked over his shoulder and threw a white feather in the air.

A white feather? WTF? Hey, wait a second—didn't one of those things fall on my head a while back, just before Ashiru fell on me? Oh yeah, I thought it was bird poop...

Okay, seriously, that Lemon-haired X-law dude is a weirdo. And NOT the good kind.

And really, I thought people threw roses at you, not feathers. Like, take Tuxedo Mask for example, he throw roses, so why could't Mr. Holier-than-thou do that too?

I growled as one of the feathers landed on my face. I spat and sputtered and blew at it until it floated off and landed in my awaiting hand. What the heck? If he plucked those things from a poor swan I swore I really _was _going to call animal abuse centers.

"Let us meet again."

And then he left.

I watched them resentfully as they turned and disappeared into the distance. I scowled at the stupid rainbow they had behind them. I was sure Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz would have been singing her stupidly famous song. Why did they always have a rainbow following behind them? What was that, the special effects crew?

I was so angry that red blurred the edges of my vision.

* * *

End of Chapter 13.

Review please! I know some of you are reading and not reviewing, but please do review! Even if you don't have anything to say, just click the green button and type "Great" or something! At least I know people are reading it then!

...Okay, enough of the begging already. But here, I know some of you people who are reviewing have some constructive criticism running through your head when you read my fanfic, but just don't want to tell me. I won't get offended, and I really do need the improvement. So please do not be afraid to be too harsh, sometimes even flames can be helpful at times.

Anyway, here's a question you can answer when you review.

**What is one thing you like about my story, one thing you hate about it, and one thing you think could use some improvement?**

I'll try to update faster. My school gets out pretty soon so maybe I'll get some more work done.

-Cookie Krisp


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